Help the Helpers

Two months of being put in General Community Quarantine (GCQ) had come to an end when the medical workers won the favor of President Rodrigo Duterte as he imposed on August 2 that Metro Manila, along with its neighboring provinces, will be put again under Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ). Following their distress call as a claim that the country is currently losing its war against COVID-19, this could be a good step to slow the spread down, but the government must up their game to help frontliners eliminate the deadly virus.

Shunning the voices of frontliners and continuing to ease quarantine protocols will surely wield a bad result to the country. Maintaining GCQ would cause the infection to spread at an alarming rate. 

Because of this, it would be better if putting the capital region under GCQ earlier had not been tolerated in the first place, since we have not yet come up with a plan to flatten the curve. Ever since Duterte eased the restriction in Metro Manila, the active cases in the area continued to soar. From June 1 until August 4, the COVID-19 cases in the country rose from 18,638 to 115,980, where Metro Manila contributed 62,173, according to the Department of Health (DOH).

Now that Metro Manila and the nearby provinces are under MECQ, this will give local governors and mayors another chance to formulate plans to terminate the disease in their respective cities, and at the same time, satisfy their people who have yet to find ways to live through the current situation.

However, under the MECQ protocols is the barring of public transportations, which most frontliners use in terms of travel to their respective facilities. Due to this, some just resort to walking. It's better if the government had known that this could be a hassle to the medical workers.

Within the GCQ to MECQ transition, the people most benefited by this are the frontliners. After all, they are the ones who insisted on reimposing the quarantine status of Metro Manila, and formulating a new plan.

Terminating the virus completely would be faster if the government is helping our frontliners, and not just letting them risk their lives to save the , now that COVID cases continue to increase. Now that the reimposition is enforced, this will be a good time for the government to start prioritizing ways to contain the unseen foe, instead of waiting for a vaccine to be obtained. By this, they could show the Filipinos that the victory will soon be in our hands.