“We have to prepare for the new normal.”
This is the challenge posed by DILG XII Regional Director Josephine Cabrido-Leysa, CESO III as another advisory on COVID-19 infection prevention measures was released recently.
The advisory, according to Dir. Leysa, simply urges everyone to adjust and adapt to the post-quarantine way-of-life which will be characterized by the mandatory wearing of face masks while in public, maintaining social distancing at all times and other infection prevention measures like the handwashing and frequent disinfection in designated places, both in government or private establishments.
The DILG advisory, signed by Secretary Eduardo M. Año and was issued on April 18, 2020, enjoins all provincial governors, city and municipal mayors, BARMM chief minister, DILG Regional Directors and others concerned to “maintain the implementation of social distancing and basic infection prevention measures” as the community quarantine has been extended up to April 30.
The said advisory came just in time when the LGU of General Santos and Koronadal City and other LGUs in the Region provided their own crowd-control measures like the “clustering scheme” or ‘scheduled market-runs’ to minimize the huge volume of residents who flock to grocery stores or public markets to purchase needed supplies while the community quarantine is in effect. Other LGUs have also opted for ‘mobile markets’ or ‘market on wheels’ to be set up in the barangays to avoid the assembly of many people in the town centers.
The advisory offered other means for LGUs to discourage the gathering of large crowds through on-line selling or similar platforms or a highly localized community market in subdivisions in coordination and with the approval of the homeowners association.
“The issuance of Home Quarantine Passes (HQP) was quite effective in managing the flow of people during the early days of the community quarantine in our Region, much unlike the Metro Manila situation, where the crowd of buyers were huge, exposing residents to higher risks,” according to Dir. Leysa.
It is in this context that Secretary Año released the advisory advising the LGUs to discontinue the imposition of the ‘narrow or limited window period’ on the access to and operations of public and private establishments like wet markets, supermarkets, groceries and pharmacies to avoid the massive of congestion during those limited window hours, added Dir. Leysa.
The 7:00 PM-5:00 AM curfew is currently in effect in the Region as another safeguard to minimize unnecessary outside exposure of the citizens. A number of LGUs in the region has already imposed clustering of barangays in the past few weeks to avoid the gathering of large crowd during the scheduled market days on the 'limited window period.'
