TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol—The provincial government ordered a “calibrated lockdown” of the entire province driven by fear of COVID-19 that would all but paralyze commerce and trade with a long list of exceptions, though.
The governor, Arthur Yap, said in an executive order that the entire island of Bohol is now on “intensified community quarantine,” a variation of the enhanced community quarantine ordered by President Rodrigo Duterte in all of Luzon in the hope that stopping people from moving about freely would also stop the transmission of COVID-19.
The new order by the governor meant all business and commercial establishments in the province would be shut down except for these: grocery stores, supermarkets, convenience stores, pharmacies and drug stores, hardware and construction dealers, banks, financial institutions and money remittance shops.
The operation of public markets would be limited to 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. and vendors and buyers are required to wear masks even if masks are hard to come by anywhere you go in the Philippines.
Also to remain open are slaughterhouses, hospitals, medical clinics, medical facilities, diagnostic centers and laboratories, water-refilling stations, pawn shops, money transfer shops, lending agencies, payment and remittance centers, public utilities, gasoline stations, funeral parlors, restaurants, fastfood chains and other food establishments, media offices, shipping and cargo offices, agriculture supply stores and food factories.
Only hospitals, diagnostic centers, pharmacies, public utilities and media offices are allowed to operate beyond 7 p.m. when everything else closes.
Yap said the calibrated lockdown would prevent mass gathering and congregation of people “which increases the risk of local transmission.”
The people of Bohol were also advised to keep a safe distance from one another, like the way the uninformed avoid lepers, while drivers of public transport were ordered to wear masks even as health workers on the frontline of the fight against the disease are suffering from a shortage of masks and other personal protective equipment.
The governor asked the people of Bohol to just stay at home and leave only for very important and urgent purposes.
Edited by TSB