The Department of Heath reports that thirty-one voters were sent home for manifesting COVID-19 symptoms after being screened at polling precincts during Election Day. According to Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, those voters were instructed to go on home isolation and referred to local health centers for further evaluation and management.
She added that no voters with “severe symptoms” were known to have visited polling precincts.
After the busy campaign period and the well-attended elections, Vergeire said the DOH will be monitoring the situation in the coming weeks, since the incubation period of COVID-19 is around two weeks.
In addition, DOH Technical Advisory Group member Edsel Salvana also asked those who participated in miting de avances and went to crowded polling centers to “wear their masks religiously” in the next few days.
He added that those individuals should observe themselves for any COVID-19 symptoms and those who develop any should immediately isolate and get themselves tested for the coronavirus if possible.
“Let’s preempt whatever might happen. Let’s take extra care so we can stop any spike in cases,” Salvana said.
Health officials all around the globe have been bracing for a surge in COVID-19 cases. In the Philippines, the recent campaign period and elections that have been well-attended gives us additional risk factors that we need to be prepared for if we intend to prevent another surge from crippling our country with the same destructive impact as the Delta-variant-fueled one when it struck ten months ago.
Let us not give COVID and our government another reason to lock us down and set back our recovery from the pandemic further. If we collectively stay alert, follow protocols, vaccinate and get booster shots, and observe the necessary precautions, we should be able to avoid the worst scenarios and focus on getting our lives back on track.
But for that to happen, we will have to do the work, especially during this critical juncture of the pandemic that should be winding down.*
