Balancing nat’l health and economic concerns

THE National Capital Region (NCR) – Metro Manila – and 14 other regions in the country will remain under General Commu­nity Quarantine (GCQ) for another month until February 28, the gov­ernment decided last week. We had been hoping that the GCQ would be eased into Modified GCQ (MGCQ) which would be the last level of restriction before a return to pre-pandemic conditions.

The public generally sees these various levels of restrictions in terms of their effect on their personal freedom of movement. Many miss the old freedoms – go­ing to malls on weekends, going to church on Sundays, going to work and to classes.

But many fear and know the COVID-19 virus is still very much around here and in many other countries, still deadly and infec­tious, and it is best to stay in the safety of home, avoid meeting other people, friends as well as strangers, lest they be unknow­ing carriers of the virus. If they do go out, it is with face masks and face shields on, and keeping other people at a distance.

In the decision to maintain the GCQ in Metro Manila, the govern­ment has had to balance its con­cern for the people’s health with the state of the national economy as a whole.

For months now since the re­strictions began in March, 2020, the national economy has been plunging as factories stopped production, many companies and offices, stores and restau­rants closed down, people lost their livelihood and income, and government income from taxes plunged.

Secretary of Trade and In­dustry Ramon M. Lopez said last Tuesday that the domestic economy is now way down but should start recovering to a six percent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth once the NCR and neighboring provinces ease from GCQ to Modified GCQ.

That step towards recovery will have to be further postponed with the government decision to keep GCQ for another month in the National Capital Region. He said this was to give President Duterte at least two weeks to see if the number of COVID cases in the country continues to go down to less than 2,000 a day. It is this delicate balance between economic and health concerns that is guiding government deci­sions on easing the restrictions, he said.

Many people have gotten used to staying at home where they feel safe, but there are others – perhaps the majority – longing for the old days when they could go to their work places on week­days and anywhere they wanted on weekends.

We have learned in these last 10 months that we cannot trifle with the COVID-19 virus. It continues to wreak havoc on people’s lives and nation’s economies around the world. We are fortunate the Phil­ippines is doing rather well com­pared to so many other countries due to the earnest and capable efforts of our health workers.

The nation’s economic manag­ers look forward to easing the restrictions so the economic re­covery can begin while our people look forward to the freedom of movement they used to enjoy. All these will have to wait as we continue to fight COVID-19.