Editorial Cartooning | Reynald Ram Ablir
By PHOEBE CHELLUA SADORRA | Editorial Correspondents
For the better or for the worst, lockdowns began being a factor to the everyday Filipino person ever since 2020. And when the Alert Level System (ALS) took the whole nation in November of 2021, it left room for discussion whether these daunting abbreviations that flash the news channels during surges of COVID cases are indeed effective.
When lockdowns and quarantines were first introduced, President Duterte himself had commented how "they are afraid to call it a lockdown, but it is a lockdown." during a televised address from Malacañang Palace. The negative view on these special community orders didn’t stop in its first year alone, remaining as an eyed topic even today in 2022 when Metro Manila was raised to alert level 3 on January 3. Of course, these community orders weren’t based on nothing . During case surges and influx the government immediately takes action by implementing the proper level depending on the degree of severity. This being done in an attempt to lower the cases and cut possible routes for the virus to spread to.
However, the question of whether these lockdown measures are effective have started popping through the years as everything comes with doubt. Multiple studies have been made with the focus on Lebanon, New Zealand, China and so on where the question was taken into account. Here in the Philippines the repetitive use of this tactic may point to its effectiveness as a safety measure against the virus. The factor of our understanding against the virus along with the intent to follow hold a significant impact on the effectiveness of lockdowns and community quarantines. It’s in our human nature to go on defense in response to something we don’t have knowledge of, this is the role of lockdowns.
Compared to two years ago when the virus first appeared, we’ve all come far in research especially with our benefit of vaccines. This assurance may ward off the fear and weariness of the masses to an extent but in turn it may also be why lockdown would lose its edge as a safety measure. The more people gain safety against the virus the less they’d see the purpose outside of being a passed order.
Would you agree with their reliability considering our current state as opposed to two years ago? At the end of the day the effectiveness of lockdowns and quarantine in general relies on the people rather than the system itself.
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