Friday, September 11, 2020

DOTR eases distancing rule in public transport. Inquirer Newsletter. September 12, 2020

HANDOVER Bureau of Corrections officials on Friday turned over custody of US Marine Joseph Scott Pemberton, shown standing beside his lawyer, Rowena Garcia-Flores, to Bureau of Immigration personnel, bringing him closer to freedom after he was granted absolute pardon by President Duterte in the killing of transgender woman Jennifer Laude in 2014. —PHOTO FROM BUREAU OF CORRECTIONS PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE

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Local health workers: Unsung, undaunted

Rarely acknowledged among the front-liners in the country’s battle against COVID-19 are the barangay health workers, community volunteers who risk exposure to the coronavirus, all while facing discrimination and getting a measly P1,500 monthly honorarium. A bill providing them a much-needed lifeline in terms of benefits and allowance has long been pending in Congress. —Story by Jane Bautista

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Half a million flee West Coast wildfires

CLOVIS, CALIFORNIA—Oregon evacuated half-a-million people as the state battled 364,000 hectares of wildfires that had “substantially destroyed” five towns, while California struggled with the largest inferno it had faced in history. At least eight people were killed in the last 24 hours across California and Oregon and in Washington state, with officials warning that the toll could rise in the coming days. —Story by AFP

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Still, the taxman cometh amid pandemic

The only things certain in life are death and taxes. This is true, pandemic or no pandemic. —Story by Annelle Tayao-Juego

Read full story: business.inquirer.net/still-the-taxman-cometh-amid-pandemic

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‘It’s not a contest of who has the most expensive plant collection’

“Planting is a commitment,” says one of the green-thumbed resource persons interviewed for this piece. Sometimes, it is best to nurse a collection to life than just going out and buying the latest fad. —Story by Ruth L. Navarra

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DOTR eases distancing rule in public transport

By Jovic Yee and Mariejo S. Ramos

Four days after the government announced that it would prohibit home confinement for mild and asymptomatic COVID-19 cases, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) on Friday said it would start easing restrictions in public transportation in a bid to revive an economy in its worst recession in decades.

But the announcement prompted the Department of Health (DOH) to seek discussions, especially since these policy changes may strain the country’s health system or drive new infections, just like what happened to several countries that reopened as soon as they saw a leveling off in new infections.

The difficult balancing act has become the crux of discussions between economic and health managers, as 42 more people in the country died from the new coronavirus that still afflicts 62,250 patients from a nationwide tally of 252,964 infections. The death toll climbed to 4,108 while recoveries rose to 186,606.

On Friday, the DOH reported an additional 4,040 new cases, the first time since Aug. 26 that new infections rose by over 4,000, but the agency clarified that this figure may be due to the delayed data submission of testing laboratories.

Of the 62,250 still active cases, 88.8 percent are mild, 8.4 percent asymptomatic, 1.1 percent severe and 1.7 percent critical.

“Talks are ongoing on how we can do this without of course compromising on these physical distance measures that we are saying,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said after the DOTr announced that it would defer the original implementation date of Sept. 14 until after a resolution has been reached.

In its announcement, the DOTr said it wants to reduce to 0.75 meters the required distance between passengers, below the 1-meter distance recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).

“There is a need to safely optimize the carrying capacity of the various public transport modes as Metro Manila and its adjacent areas continue with the transition toward the ‘new normal,’” Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said in a statement on Friday.

Tugade said the physical distance requirement would remain but it would be reduced from 0.75 meters to 0.5 meter to 0.3 meter within four weeks. People would still be forbidden from taking or making phone calls while onboard public utility vehicles (PUVs).

The measure was apparently in response to pleas from the business sectors to ease restrictions on transportation and workplace capacity in order to restart the economy and help millions of Filipinos find jobs lost when the country went on lockdown.

Home quarantine
The DOTr’s policy revision comes just days after Interior Secretary Eduardo Año of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, announced that the government would ban home confinement for mild and asymptomatic patients.

But Vergeire said discussions on the ban were ongoing in order to reach an “accurate and more complete recommendation.”

As it is, Vergeire said there were already existing guidelines on who should be admitted to temporary treatment and monitoring facilities (TTMFs) and who could be allowed to isolate at home.

The DOH only allows home quarantine if a mild or asymptomatic patient has his own room and bath, does not interact with family members and does not live with people with comorbidities, pregnant women and elderly.

‘Unintended effects’
Former Health sScretary Manuel Dayrit, on the other hand, said the proposal to ban home quarantining could have “unintended effects” on measures against COVID-19 and people who do not want to be admitted to TTMFs may just opt to “hide their symptoms and [test] results.”

Not enough beds
Data also shows that there are just not enough available beds for mild and asymptomatic patients. As of Sept. 6, the average utilization rate of TTMFs across the country was at 41 percent.

In Metro Manila, there are a total of 5,846 beds, or a ratio of 1:2,362. Bed utilization was at 59 percent.

As of Thursday, Metro Manila accounts for nearly half of the close to 59,000 active cases, or 29,188. Nationally, 97 percent of all cases are mild and asymptomatic.

Applying that average to the capital region means that there are more than 28,000 mild and asymptomatic patients, nearly five times the current TTMF capacity in the metropolis.

Bed capacity not enough
Even if the lower global threshold of 80 percent mild cases is used, the current TTMF bed capacity is still not enough since at this rate the quarantines should be able to accommodate at least 23,000 patients.

Dayrit added that if the physical distancing requirement would be reduced, the government should know if the other protective measures, such as wearing masks, could “offset any of the protection that you might theoretically lose.”

Cooperation
He recognized though that trade-offs would have to be made given the economic impact of the outbreak.

“People should very consciously follow the rules—no talking, no using of phones, no eating [in public transport]. There has to be a lot of cooperation. Unless that public education is there, then it might not work,” he said.

Editorial

Overreach and censorship

The Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) said it wants to be given authority to regulate the content of Netflix and other online streaming services, which lay beyond the reach of the government reviewers. For many years, the MTRCB seemed happy enough to ignore the content of online entertainment and information platforms. But now that the internet has increasingly become the dominant source of content for millions of Filipinos, suddenly the MTRCB feels it should have a say on what we can and cannot view on our devices. The board’s reasons or justifications for expanding their reach and power grow farcical by the day—from ensuring that "contemporary Filipino values" are promoted on both local and foreign fare, to ensuring that the content isn’t pirated. How they aim to do this is still a mystery.

MTRCB chief Rachel Arenas has bemoaned the tendency of the public to equate any act undertaken by the MTRCB to censorship and negativity, adding that their aim is supposedly to empower the public and encourage viewers to decide for themselves. "We will do postmonitoring [to ensure that] that you are complying with our guidelines, that you are complying with Filipino contemporary values," an ABS-CBN report quoted her as saying. But when protecting "contemporary Filipino values" consists of limiting the public’s access to entertainment and information in these times of already constrained choices, then what we have is state overreach and censorship, plain and simple.

Read full story: opinion.inquirer.net