Alert level system, protocols should stay despite drop in cases

MANILA – An infectious diseases expert on Thursday recommended that minimum public health standards and the alert level system should continue to be enforced despite a notable drop in the country’s Covid-19 cases.

In a Laging Handa briefing, Dr. Edsel Salvaña—a member of the Department of Health’s (DOH) Technical Advisory Group for Infectious Disease—said abolishing the alert level system at the moment is not “timely” as a shift to Alert Level 1 would allow for the return to “100 percent” capacity of the country’s economy while maintaining minimum health protocols.

“Kailangan rin natin ng framework na kung biglang tumaas iyong mga kaso, then mayroon tayong calibrated response para hindi tuluy-tuloy iyong paglaganap at mapi-pressure naman po ang ating mga ospital (We need a framework if there’s a sudden spike in cases, then we have a calibrated response so there wouldn’t be continuous spread and pressure to our hospitals),” Salvaña said.

Despite optimism among the infectious disease experts of the DOH’s Technical Advisory Group due to the continuing trend of fewer Covid-19 cases, he said the disease should not be “underestimated” to avoid being taken by surprise by possible new variants.

“Sinabi na ng WHO [World Health Organization], malayo pa ‘yung end noong pandemic ‘no. Mayroon pa rin tayong inaasahan na baka may mga lumabas pa na bagong variants (The WHO said that the end of the pandemic won’t be that soon. We’re still expecting new variants to come out),” Salvaña said.

He said other countries that have eased down health protocols to the point of not requiring face masks in public should not be emulated, and the Philippines should instead follow a “care and science-based” approach.

“Hindi po ibig sabihin na dahil mababa ang kaso, tatanggalin na natin lahat itong pagma-mask at pagpi-physical distance dahil alam natin na nandiyan pa rin naman iyong virus at puwede pa rin siyang umusbong ulit (It doesn’t mean that because cases are low that we should stop wearing mask or physical distancing because we know that virus is still out there and it can still spread again),” Salvaña said.

The current drop in Covid-19 cases, he said, can mainly be attributed to a large portion of the population being vaccinated and continued compliance with minimum public health standards.

To maintain the current drop in Covid-19 cases, he urged the public to get themselves fully vaccinated and to receive a booster shot.

“Tuluy-tuloy naman iyong proteksiyon against severe disease ng kahit dalawang doses lang ng bakuna, mas maganda talaga na mayroon tayong third dose lalung-lalo na doon sa ating vulnerable population dahil over time nagkakaroon talaga ng waning ng protection (There is continued protection against a severe disease even with two vaccine doses, but it’s better to have a third dose especially those among the vulnerable population as the protection it provides wanes over time),” Salvaña said.

To date, there are 153,335 active Covid-19 cases in the country after 8,702 new cases and 15,290 new recoveries were reported on Thursday, a drop from Wednesday’s 160,297 active cases.