A GREAT deal of COVID-19 infections is believed to take place in transportation when masses of people take to buses and light rails to go work. Still the best way to combat the virus is the use of a face mask, disposable gloves, and disinfectant solutions for the hands. A face shield can be an additional barrier of protection for the eyes.
This advice is from Dr. Maricar Limpin of the Philippine Coalition on the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases, one of the medical groups that had appealed to President Duterte for a “time-out” to slow down the virus and give health workers a two-week respite from their hectic schedule in hospitals.
The virus has a lesser chance to spread when air is freely circulated in a vehicle, she said. As for the plastic barriers installed by some jeepney drivers, she said, they should be disinfected after every use. The same is true for the plastic barriers between a motorcycle driver and his passenger.
Studies by the US Center for Disease Control and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control also show that poor ventilation in confined spaces is associated with increased transmissions. “COVID-19 is thought to be primarily transmitted via large respiratory droplets. However, an increasing number of outbreak reports indicate the role of aerosols (smaller droplets which can remain in the air longer),” one study said. The aerosols could spread if air is recirculated in a building’s air-conditioning system.
These are among the latest reports worldwide that should help our own officials as they move to ease the restrictions on the movement of people. We had a return to a two-week Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ) granted as a “time-out” for hospital workers and it is due to end August 17.
The less restrictive General Community Quarantine (GCQ) begins on August 18. The light rails and buses will begin to run again to carry the workers to various offices and establishments, such as malls and shopping centers allowed to open with limited 50 percent capacity. Rails and buses will be similarly limited. Jeepneys on approved routes will also return.
If this schedule is followed without any further interruption, the coming two-week General Community Quarantine (GCQ) should be followed by a more open Modified GCQ, then – hopefully – by the lifting of all restrictions. It all depends on the virus which shown an uncanny ability to return when it seemed to have died down.
A previous pandemic, the Spanish flu, ravaged the world for two years from 1918 to 1920, infecting about 500 million people, a third of the world population at that time, and causing about 50 million deaths.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has now infected over 20 million people and caused about 740,000 deaths. It shows no sign of abating, especially since no cure or vaccine has yet been found, and so we must all remain alert to our surroundings and other people, protecting ourselves as best as we can with proper distancing, face masks, clean hands, and soon also with face shields.
