Cagayan de Oro mayor says lockdown could ‘set back gains’ vs COVID-19

OUTSIDERS KEEP OUT Volunteers man a checkpoint in Pinikitan, a densely populated urban community in Cagayan de Oro City. The checkpoint was set up after a resident who died last month was subsequently found positive for COVID-19 infection. Photo: FROILAN GALLARDO

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—Mayor Oscar S. Moreno has shrugged off recent calls to impose a lockdown in the city as a precaution against the spread of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19), saying the measure is a step backwards.

“Doing the lockdown now would set back the gains,” Moreno said.

Moreno added that even President Rodrigo Duterte knows that quarantine strictures have a paralyzing effect on the economy hence, advised local chief executives not to declare enhanced community quarantine unless necessary.

He noted that the Department of Health and the Northern Mindanao Medical Center have so far been successful in handling COVID-19 cases from within and outside the region.

In the past days, some 26 of 80 village leaders in the city petitioned Moreno to institute enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) measures “without delay” to hedge off against COVID-19.

The petition was based on an earlier call by the Misamis Oriental Medical Society for an ECQ, a request turned down by Moreno.

Julito Ogsimer, Barangay Lapasan chair and one of the petitioners, said they have decided to write Moreno anew since the mayor seems to have not acted on the doctors’ petition.

The petitioning barangay officials said that during the ECQ period, the city government must distribute food packs to about 140,000 families, the funds of which will be sourced from the city’s P300 million calamity fund and the P500 million supplemental budget.

They also requested that mass testing should be conducted for persons categorized as suspect or probable, or even those without symptoms, including medical frontliners, but were exposed to COVID-19 patients.

The petition came as the national government has ordered the easing of quarantine strictures in parts of the country with assessed low to moderate risk of COVID-19 infections.

In place of draconian quarantine rules, Moreno, instead, urge residents to keep observing the basic precautions, especially limiting movement outside the home.

Moreno explained that his decision against an ECQ is based on the recommendation of the national inter-agency task force on COVID-19 and the DOH.

“It’s as if the decision was mine alone,” Moreno said.

“You cannot elevate to ECQ without consulting the IATF,” he added.

So far, there have been only three COVID-19 cases in the city. Two had died and one has recovered.

JPV