EDITORIAL - Wanted: Thermal scanners

It was Carmageddon yesterday, the first working day of the week, at practically all the 56 border checkpoints set up in line with the community quarantine imposed in Metro Manila to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease or COVID-19.

While the objective was laudable and necessary, the implementation left much to be desired. One of the biggest and obvious reasons for the misery suffered yesterday by both the public and the harried government personnel manning the checkpoints is the lack of thermal scanners. Even several mayors of Metro Manila echoed the complaint of police and health personnel about the lack of the scanners, which slowed down the screening of people entering or leaving the National Capital Region.

The need for additional personnel at the checkpoints was also evident. An estimated four million people working in Metro Manila live outside the region. Obviously, the number of government personnel deployed at the checkpoints was woefully inadequate. And because of the long lines, social distancing was largely forgotten by many people impatient to be cleared at the checkpoints.

Even before the checkpoints were set up, there was already a shortage of thermal scanners across the country as COVID-19 spread. With the experience yesterday at the checkpoints, the shortage was dramatically highlighted. Every effort must be made by the government, in coordination with those in the private sector who are familiar with global supply chains, to procure more thermal scanners. The government must also go after those reportedly selling the scanners online at up to 10 times their regular price. Those in the frontlines of this battle need sufficient equipment.