Puerto Princesa City Incident Management Team (PPC-IMT) Commander Dr. Dean Palanca urges the public to start saving money as part of preparation of the community in case the local government implements a hard lockdown in case of Delta Variant outbreak.
“Isang paki-usap ko po, habang maaga po, mag-umpisa po tayo na kung meron naman tayong konting pera P20 pesos, P30 pesos o P50 pesos…pakiusap ko magtabi napo kayo paunti-unti… Maaaring yan po ay gamitin niyo once na magkaroon tayo ng grabeng outbreak dito sa Puerto Princesa. What if 30 to 50 pesos every other day? Kung after 1 month, malaki na pong pera yan, ‘di ba?…yun po ay ihanda po ninyo pambili niyo po ng kahit 1 sakong bigas. Pambili po natin ng mga konting de lata,” Dr. Palanca said
He also stated the hard lockdown to what the government implemented last March 2020 when the aforementioned virus has started spreading.
“What if kung mag-hard lockdown po tayo ‘pag nagkaroon tayo ng outbreak dahil kay Delta Variant? At kung mag-hard lockdown tayo, ibig sabihin walang labasan ‘yun, walang essentials yun. Ibig sabihin mababalik tayo sa March [2020]…walang essential dun, walang trabaho lahat. At ipatupad naming yan ng 3 linggo o 1 buwan para lang mabawasan lang ‘tong kaso natin kay Delta Variant,” he stated.
He emphasized that the said implementation of a hard lockdown may or may not happen, but it is vital to be prepared especially in this trying times of the pandemic.
“Puwede pong mangyari [at] puwede rin hindi po mangyari ‘yan pero mabuti na pong nakapag-prepare po… Kung kami nga…naghahanda kami para sa family po namin so we might as well na sa iba sinasabi ko na para hindi yung huli na, hindi yung ‘ano yung ibibigay ng gobyerno natin eh wala tayong kakainin? Wala tayong bigas.’ Eh sinabi na nga naming ngayong aga-aga pa na sana makapag-umpisa na po sila [maghanda sakaling magkaroon ng hard lockdown],” he said.
“So ngayong maaga pa, kami nakikiusap na mag-ipon kayo ng konting pera para sa inyong sarili at ito’y paghahanda niyo na rin sakaling darating yung oras na…dumating na si Delta Variant. Dadating at dadating siya sa Puerto, ang tanong lang natin is kailan, anong araw [at] anong buwan darating,” he added.
He added that the transmissibility and susceptibility of the virus will be worse than what the city has experienced the past few months in terms of the spike in cases which caused the LGU to impose stricter curfew hours and implement a higher quarantine classification, Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ).
“Maghanda po tayo sa ganitong problema, which is mas malaki pa po ‘to kaysa sa outbreak po natin nangyari nitong April, May at June kasi ito marami ang magkakasakit. Libo-libo ito. Aabutin ito ng 20 mil hanggang 30 mil ang affected dito. Marami po yung maaaring mamatay, hindi bababa ng limang daang taong mamamatay. Mamamatayan na rin tayo ng mga bata po dito kung hindi natin mapoporotektahan ang mga bata.”
As of August 9, 2021, Department of Health has reported that 13 out of 17 regions in the country have been infected with Delta Variant, a mutation of the coronavirus 2019 which has a higher rate transmissibility and susceptibility at 60% compared to its preceding variants only at 50%.
According to WebMD, Delta variant is known to spread faster compared to other variants as the “strain has mutations on the spike protein that make it easier for it to infect human cells. That means people may be more contagious if they contract the virus and more easily spread it to others.”
Dr. Palanca explains that while the Alpha or UK variant and Beta or South African variant is already more contagious compared to the coronavirus discovered in China in 2019. However, the Delta variant is 60% more transmissibility compared to Alpha and Beta variants.
“Ngayon itong si Alpha at Beta [COVID-19 variants] ay mas mabilis yung kaniyang transmissibility [o]…mas mataas yung kaniyang kakayanan na makahawa kaysa sa original variant na nanggaling sa China. Sumatutal parang 50% yung kaniyang capacity ng kaniyang transmissibility kung iko-compare mo siya kay China [variant]… Si Delta [ay] mas mataas kaysa sa kay Alpha at kay Beta…[na may] 60% more yung kaniyang property na makapag transmit [o] makahawa.”