Despite surging cases of Covid-19 Lipa City stays open
STO. TOMAS CITY – TO KEEP jobs and businesses up and running, Lipa City has decided and assured its citizens that it will stay open and there will be no lockdown.
That's the long and short of it, and in the mind of local chief executive Eric Africa, the best way to fight the virus is to keep the wheels of economy going by allowing businesses to operate, so that people will have the money to spend for their needs while the city too can generate much-needed revenue.
He, however, stressed that basic health and safety protocols including proper social distancing must still be strictly observed so as to prevent the spread of the virus in his city.
Unlike before when other cities and towns of Batangas have had far greater cases of Covid-19 than Lipa, the city was the first to announce and implement tight quarantine checkpoints.
But that was before and Lipa City may have learned the lesson well.
Different tune
And now Mayor Africa is singing a different tune.
"Wala po magaganap na lockdown," enthused Africa in an exclusive interview.
"Hindi po makakatulong ang lockdown. Sa halip hihigpitan ng ating kapulisan at barangay officials and (pagpatupad ng) health protocols," Africa said.
"Hindi na kaya ng ating workers na wala silang trabaho," he added.
Worried as they are over the rising daily cases of the virus in the city’s 72 barangays, some Lipenos, if they would have their way, they would actually prefer even only for a seven-day lockdown especially on areas hardest hit by Covid-19.
Rising cases
They are also wanting to hear from the city government about a clear path to take to counter rising cases.
A certain Marie Madamba-Nunez posted on Lipa's official Facebook page:
"Sana maibahagi din po ang plano pano mapigilan ang spread. Today po highest pa rin tyo sa probinsya w/ 75 new cases. Nung isang araw 88. Ano po ang ginagawa at plano sa contact tracing at mass testing at isolation? Sapat pa po ba ang bed, gamot at health workers ng mga ospital? Saang mga barangay po ang concentration ng cases? May ila-lockdown po bang areas?"
Over a week-long period from March 26 to April 1, 2021, Lipa hogged the leaderboard in the province's daily tally of coronavirus cases.
Along that stretch, all but two instances that Lipa relinquished the lead to another city in a critical situation of Covid-19 cases -- Batangas City.
Aside from the two cities, Tanauan and Sto. Tomas City also have double-digit cases on most days.
On March 26, Lipa netted 48 cases; on the following day (March 27) it posted 68, and higher still on March 28 at 75 positive cases.
Last March 29, Lipa City momentarily gave way to Batangas City which registered 27 cases before Lipa scorched anew the leaderboard with 46 and 40 cases in the next two days.
Batangas City led all comers again on April 1 with 39 cases with Lipa close behind.
The highest score for Lipa actually came on March 25, 2021, where it posted 88 cases of Covid-19.
Blame DOH
Mayor Africa partly blamed the Department of Health for the spike of Covid-19 cases in his city.
"There is a new variant (of Covid) from the UK yet the DOH allowed it to come into our country," Africa said.
"Wala ring agarang action pati na sa hospital testing at hindi nirereport agad. Dapat sana kung sino man ang magpapakuha ng Covid test, ina-isolate muna until after they are able to get a negative result," Africa explained.
"E hindi ganun ang kaso. Hinahayaan muna ng hospitals na makapamasyal yung tao na nagpakuha ng test yun pala positive ang result nya sa Covid test," Africa stressed.
Quarantine checkpoints
However, the 11th local chief executive of Lipa since 1951 explained that "Lipa will put up (quarantine) checkpoints but not to hold people from going to their work and other essential purposes."
That's a far cry from last year's stance of Mayor Africa when he barred light industrial workers from coming home for fear they would be bringing home the virus with them.
He also ordered barangay tanods to track down homes of workers working outside Lipa and ask them to momentarily stay in their respective offices or factories until after cases die down.
Maybe, Mayor Africa learned a lesson or two from what he did last year.
Sudden spike
Actually, demographically, 72 cases per day is not a number to worry about for Lipa which is home to around 400,000 people.
Seventy-two cases per day simply translate into one (1) infected patient in each barangay, a number negligible enough while manageable for a first-class component city of Batangas.
"Bigla-bigla ang pagtaas. Dati we were not hitting over 40 cases and then the past week we were averaging 50 cases per day.
Boost business
To some observers, however, Mayor Africa seemed to have missed to pin down two other factors that may have caused the sudden spike of Lipa's Covid-19 cases.
While the rest of Batangas was on general community quarantine, where it is on the same classification anew until April 30, Lipa applied for a modified GCQ along with 12 other local government units with the provincial IATF.
They all have the same reason for exemption: boost local business.
The request was granted by the provincial IATF and the people enjoyed a more relaxed restriction on mobility and of course, more businesses opened.
Relaxed restrictions
At some point, owing to more relaxed restrictions, people forget -- in most cases -- to observe social distancing.
The reopening of malls in Lipa also proved to be one of the reasons in the sudden surge in cases as people are filling them up like before the outbreak.
Another suspect as the purveyor of Covid-19 infection is the bus terminal where Batanguenos ride for Metro Manila and back to Lipa in one of the malls in the city.
But with or without, it seems that in Mayor Africa's mind, Covid-19 is here to stay and there is not much that the government can do about it.
So, instead of allowing the economy to stagnate because of lockdowns, he decided that it might serve his city in good stead if he allows businesses to operate, while at the same time strictly enforcing the implementation of basic health protocols and social distancing.
After all, no vaccine can wipe out the virus without the full cooperation of the people and strict compliance of required health protocols. (IA)