Philippine New COVID-19 Cases as of 5 July 2020
Metro Manila Community Quarantine - Day 113
I didn't want to talk about our COVID-19 numbers so soon after my last post, but today's new record-high number of diagnosed cases merited some sort of a discussion. Today the DOH reported that we had 2,434 new cases - the highest number of cases identified in a single day. This is also (potentially) one of their last reports where they break the data down between "fresh" and "late" cases, and 1,147 fresh cases is also a new record.
In other words, things don't look great.
We're starting our 17th week in Quarantine and our infection curve remains one of the worst in the region, regardless of what the national government contests in its media briefings. The government has been working towards re-opening as much of the country as possible and numbers like this do not provide any sense of reassurance that it's really time to go out again. And sure, it might be a one-day fluke of some sort, but it's still troubling to hit that many diagnosed cases in one day.
So maybe it's too soon to really re-open the country fully and the current spike in infections could be a direct result of the more relaxed stance we've taken since shifting Metro Manila to General Community Quarantine (GCQ). I'd need to review the Metro Manila specific numbers to better understand what's going on, but I doubt that the case rise is outside of Metro Manila alone as most of the cases announced today were still Metro Manila cases (440 fresh cases, 629 late cases).
If the government decides that we're ready for MGCQ after 15 July...I will be very skeptical. Even now I don't feel comfortable risking going for dine-in meals at restaurants even though many have re-opened with strict capacity limits. I definitely don't feel like I'd be comfortable going back to the gym under MGCQ even though Anytime Fitness has been bombarding me across email and social media with all the reassurances related to safety precautions they're doing in preparation for re-opening "soon".
What a year this is turning out to be. I'm really starting to feel like we're also going to celebrate my birthday in quarantine, as sad as it feels to verbalize that thought. This country is not winning anything right now - the numbers clearly establish that fact.
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