So what are the next steps in our fight against COVID? (Sabong News)
Author
Dr. Edsel Salvana
Date
MARCH 15 2022
It is remarkable how fast people forget and move on to other things when there is a perception that the danger has passed. It was barely two months ago when people were bunkered in their homes as the Omicron wave wreaked havoc and cases peaked at nearly 39,000 new infections in one day.
The dramatic decline in COVID-19 cases and deaths is evident in empty isolation beds in hospitals and treatment facilities. Positivity rates are below five percent, and hellish Metro Manila traffic is back. Political rally after political rally with people packed liked sardines shows how reckless people have become, but it isn’t over.
South Korea is showing over 300,000 cases a day at the time of this writing. Vietnam and Germany remain at over 100,000 daily cases. In Southeast Asia, the Philippines is showing the lowest case numbers per million population. Vietnam has surpassed all countries except Indonesia in total case numbers, and Malaysia recently surpassed our pandemic total. This is proof that Omicron is still very much around, and we need both vaccination and masks to defeat it. Thankfully, Filipinos have been very good at wearing masks, and vaccine hesitancy has significantly abated.
