This is what happens when people begin to relax compliance with COVID health protocols. A year into the pandemic lockdowns, the National Capital Region is going back to a longer curfew beginning Monday, from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. This is just two hours shorter than the curfew first imposed a year ago this month in the NCR and other parts of Luzon, from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m.
The NCR-wide uniform curfew is being imposed for two weeks as Metro Manila scrambles to contain the rapid spike in COVID cases, with the possibility that this is caused by the spread of more infectious coronavirus variants from overseas. Yesterday, the country registered the highest daily fresh infections in six months, at 4,578, with the total 52,012 active cases the highest since September.
The OCTA Research Group, which had warned about the spike, projects a daily average of 4,000 cases until the end of the month. In the Western Pacific, the Philippines now has the highest number of cases, with a total of 611,618 and 12,694 deaths as of Thursday morning.
While essential workers will be exempted from the curfew and fast-food outlets and other dining establishments can provide take-out services through the curfew hours, it can still be a hassle to be apprehended and made to explain to police and barangay personnel one’s activities during curfew.
The longer curfew will obviously affect establishments whose businesses tend to be busiest in the evening, such as restaurant-bars and massage spas. The curfew hours had been shortened last year, paving the way for dining establishments to accept customers for dinner and allowing the longer operation of commercial centers.
During the Christmas season, the curfew hours were reduced to the shortest, from midnight to 3 a.m., to make way for the holiday shopping rush and allow more dawn masses to be held amid physical distancing requirements in churches.
The holidays and further reopening of economic activities did not result in the feared COVID surge. This, possibly combined with the start of COVID vaccination and easing of more restrictions, could have encouraged the weakening of compliance with health protocols. The price is the granular lockdown in several areas, and now the curfew, with its impact on livelihoods. Lessons must be learned from this episode as the country faces many more months of battling COVID.