DOLE worries about COVID-19 infections in offices after holidays

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With the country’s economy moving closer to full recovery, the Department of Labor and Employment’s (DOLE) biggest concern was keeping workplaces free of COVID-19 infections after the holidays, Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma said on Tuesday during a visit to Baguio City.Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, however, was optimistic that the cautiousness practiced by Filipinos toward COVID-19 would help prevent a surge in cases.

Laguesma said that while most industries were reaping high revenues from brisk Yuletide travel and commodity demand, business owners should continue protecting their workers by retaining practices like social distancing at workplaces and conducting periodic tests.

Labor figures have been good, according to him, with 47.11 million Filipinos currently employed as the government works to increase the manpower needed for newly pledged investments obtained by President Marcos during his recent trips to Europe, Singapore and the United States.

“So, we don’t want infections to disrupt business operations and derail progress already being made throughout the country,” Laguesma said after meeting with Baguio’s “Pony Boys,” who would benefit from the labor department’s livelihood and “employability training” program. According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, the 47.11 million employed Filipinos as of October represented “the highest rate recorded since January 2020,” approaching “prepandemic levels.”

The number was higher than October 2021’s 43.82 million and slightly lower than the 47.58 million employed in September this year.

To date, no workplace infections have been reported to the labor department despite a slight uptick of transmissions in Metro Manila, Laguesma said.

For Vergeire, “practices and behavior” that err on the “side of caution” would help Filipinos avert a new wave of COVID-19 infections in the country despite the entry of BF.7, an Omicron sublineage blamed for an ongoing surge in China.

“I can say it’s going to be different [for] us,” she told reporters on Tuesday.

Vergeire noted that while Filipinos were also eager to go out in public and attend parties, “our fellow ‘kababayan’ were careful, and we are thankful to them as this resulted in fewer cases.” According to her, many still chose to keep their masks on, especially in crowded settings such as malls, and observed other minimum public health standards. “We will know in 14 days if there is a spike in cases [due to the Christmas gatherings] … but I don’t think it will be as high as before when there were no vaccines yet,” Vergeire said.

BF.7 is the newest Omicron subvariant to be detected in the Philippines, with four cases found in Metro Manila. The World Health Organization classifies BF.7 and BA.5.2 as descendants of the more immune-evasive BA.5.

Daily COVID-19 numbers, however, remain on a downtrend since the first week of December even as in-person parties and gatherings were held under the least restrictive COVID-19 measures.

From Dec. 19 to Dec. 25, data from the Department of Health (DOH) showed an average of 813 cases daily, 25 percent lower than the 1,082 cases reported the previous week.

Vergeire also cautioned the public against influenza, which has the same symptoms as COVID-19 such as fever, cough or sore throat. INQ

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