Shoule Metro Manila open this summer?

Josh

The Phillipine Government has had its people here in Central Luzon in lockdown for 70 days and counting. The quarantine has been pushed back further and further and it is not set for review until May 31st. The idea of enhanced community quarantine has come to light and there has been speculation that it is what President Duterte will transition to. Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) allows people that are 21-60 years old to walk around. The decision to forbid kids in this ECQ is questioned as kids are unlikely to have fatal symptoms. Since children have a healthy immune system that can fight off the virus, which means that the government should change it to around the age of 5 and below and 60+. 

The topic of quarantine on this island is a very discussed one, as many people are wondering if the capital city, Manila will reopen this summer for everyone. I will show you why it is time for the island to open again to the general public and have everything get back to business.

We know that Covid-19 is not a fatal disease to everyone as some people can contract it and be asymptomatic. If people aren’t likely to die from this disease or even get symptoms they should be allowed back into the public. The normal quarantine length is 14 days therefore after 14 days people should be able to go outside if they don’t demonstrate any symptoms like coughing, fever or a sore throat. 

The Phillipine economy has been deeply affected by Covid-19 as a million people have already lost their jobs and aren’t making money while they are at home. If this keeps up more and more people will become unemployed and have no source of income, which can cause an uprising against the government demanding it to let them work again so they have money. The GDP of the Philippines has lowered by 3.9% in 2020.

Part of the problem are the strict barangay officials as they control the rules of their villages or apartments and some barangays have relaxed the rules of the quarantine in villages Forbes, Dasmarinas, and San Lorenzo to name a few. With some barangay officials opening their domain up it should influence other barangays to do the same to put Metro Manila back on track to the way of life before Covid-19. 

Ale

The Philippine National Government has extended the lockdown here in Metro Manila several times. At first the quarantine was scheduled to end on April 12th then it got pushed back to April 30th. Now the official date for the people to roam the streets once again will be on May 15th, except only citizens that are 20 and older will be able to go outside. The return date of May 15th is of course not for sure as most of the return dates have been pushed back, but the decision to not allow kids was extremely controversial. 

Many people all around the country are undecided if Metro Manila should reopen during the summer and today I am here to tell you why it shouldn’t. It has just been reported that the quarantine has been extended once again until May 31st which is already extremely close to summer so there may not be an argument here. 

The idea that warmer weather might stop the coronavirus seems to have faded as the virus spreads around the globe. But can new research contain a glimmer of hope? It's too early to say for sure if the current coronavirus is seasonal. To really know why we'd have to see cases shift in one location over the year. But we should look at the distribution around the globe in various climates. Here in The Philippines there have been 12,718 confirmed cases, 2,729 recoveries, 831 deaths*. 

In the US several states have decided to reopen all their stores and it didn’t go too well. A specific example of a state that is no longer quarantined in Texas and as they open more and more stores the number of cases just keeps increasing.  On May 16, Texas reached a peak in cases with a total of 1,801 cases in a single day. It could be that the more and more they reopen the more cases there will be. It seems like the US doesn’t really care as they are sticking to their plan of eventually reopening every state. If Metro Manila were to reopen several citizens will go back to living normally because they’d think the pandemic already hit its peak, but this lifestyle will only make the virus come back and become even more severe. Many people all around the world are aware of what is occurring with the US and don’t want to make the same mistake.

 If Metro Manila were to open during the summer what happened to Texas could easily occur in Manila as well. Manila is one of the most densely populated cities in the entire world so if Metro Manila were to open during the summer the number of cases in Manila would be far worse than in Texas since there will be several crowds all around the city. Many government workers here in The Philippines believe that if Metro Manila were to reopen what occurred in Texas could easily if not worse happen in Manila and that is why Metro Mania should not and will not open during the summer.