
AFTER a year of restrictions on business operations and social activities all over the country because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are now beginning to talk of economic recovery. In the last 12 months, the country has been placed under various levels of restrictions, starting with the most restrictive Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) in Metro Manila on March 16, 2020.
The restrictions were gradually eased as the COVID-19 infections and deaths were brought down. We are now under General Community Quarantine (GCQ) in Metro Manila, possibly easing into Modified GCQ this coming March. This would be the final step before lifting of all restrictions.
During all this time, most business enterprises and offices were closed down and people were told to stay home, all in an effort to minimize the gathering of people that allows the COVID-19 virus to jump from one person to another. This spread of the virus was also blocked to a great extent by the use of face masks and face shields, keeping distance from one another, and constant washing of hands.
All this was achieved at the expense of the economy. As businesses and offices closed and people stopped going to work, the national economy slowed down and fell into recession. It was a worldwide phenomenon – social restrictions in the wake of so many deaths, followed by a breakdown of the economy. The world is now beginning slowly to recover, with some nations undertaking the mass vaccination of their people.
