Citing still high COVID positivity rate, Dr. Leachon says surge in COVID cases like what happened in March could occur again
(Eagle News) — It is still too early to shift to a General Community Quarantine protocol even if “with heightened restrictions” for Metro Manila and the surrounding provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal, according to the former special adviser of the National Task Force against COVID-19, Dr. Tony Leachon.
Even if the GCQ in the so-called NCR plus bubble has been qualified to have more restrictions, COVID-19 infections would still rise because the virus positivity rate is still at a high of 13 percent, and hospitals are still semi-full.
“Mataas pa rin ang cases (The cases are still high). Di manageable yan, mga 3,000 dapat. At makita mo yung positivity rate nasa 13 percent, malayo sa sinasabi ng WHO na less than 5 percent,” Leachon said in an interview on Friday with Balitalakayan, the Eagle News Service morning news and analysis program which airs over NET25.
He also noted that COVID-9 deaths are still at a high of about a hundred, and hospitals are still about full, so the health standards for the easing of restrictions have not yet been achieved, he said.
“Parang pilit na ginawa, tapos meron kang bagong mga terms,” he said.
Philippine COVID cases continue to rise, hitting over 6,700 cases on Friday (May 14) and Saturday (May 15).
-Slow vaccine rollout and COVID-testing –
And because of these factors — a slow vaccination rollout, slow COVID-19 testing as testing is not given freely to people, and high vaccine hesitancy for some — the economy has been opened rather prematurely, he said.
Leachon warns that there could be a repeat of the March surge of virus cases soon.
He said that in other countries, COVID testing is done for free which enadble more people to have tests. Because many people are still not tested, those who could be positive with COVID but are not tracked or tested are still transmitting the virus to their family, community and the work place.
-Premature opening up of economy if essential workers not vaccinated-
With the economy opened up, and the work force starts to go about their daily lives, this could translate to more virus cases soon. Add to this is the fact that COVID-19 is now airborne, and the tendency to not to strictly observe minimum health standards by the general public.
Leachon said that COVID tests should be at 50,000 to 75,000 daily. Currently, COVID testing is at around 30,000.
Vaccination should also be at 200,000 daily so the country could achieve herd immunity by year-end.
At the rate the vaccine rollout is going, with around 60,000 being vaccinated per day, Leachon said that herd immunity could be achieved in five years.
He suggests that the vaccination be concentrated first in Metro Manila so businesses could open safely.
“If you open the economy, dapat A4 na,” he said referring to the need to vaccinate essential workers immediately.
“Essential workers ang kailangan maprotektahan,” he said.
-Give millions of Sinovac doses to essential workers- Leachon-
Since there is a protocol to be followed for COVAX donated vaccines such as the over 2.5 million Covax doses and the Pfizer doses that had some far come in, he suggested for the Philippine government to use the more than five million Sinovac doses that the country to vaccinate the A4 group.
“Ang strategy dyan, gamiting yung santambak na Sinovac, five million yung doses na yun, use these for essential workers,” Leachon said.
He suggested that the government involve the private sector already in the distribution of the vaccines to speed up the process.. This way, more people, particularly the essential workers, would get vaccinated.
As to the AstraZeneca vaccines that would be expiring by July, he said that the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Department of Health should be faulted for this.
“May kasalanan rin dyan ang DOH at WHO, bakit binigay malapit na ang ang mag-expire?” he said.
-Involve private sector in vaccination rollout-
Leachon said that the DOH should “think out of the box” to speed up the vaccination, and prevent another virus surge.
He said that the vaccination centers should be near where the people live. So many people have already registered for the vaccines, but they’re still waiting to get the jab, he said.
“Dapat all hands on deck,” he said. The problem is that government is not involving the private sector in the vaccination procedure.
If the government would just give the vaccines to the private sector, for these to be administered to more essential workers, the vaccine rollout would speed up, he said.
The “GCQ with heightened restrictions” community quarantine protocol took effect on Saturday, May 15, and would last until May 31 in the NCR plus areas.
(Eagle News Service)
