EDITORIAL - Safety during Holy Week

People are flocking to the provincial bus depots and inter-island ferry terminals and domestic flights are becoming fully booked. For the first time since the pandemic, people are again free to travel for the Holy Week break.

Every effort must be made to ensure that the travels will be as safe as possible, not only from COVID infection but also from all the other problems that have plagued the transport sector, particularly by land and sea, long before the pandemic.

The country has a long list of maritime disasters that claimed thousands of lives. Overloading, with passenger manifests incomplete, as well as poorly trained or even drunken crew, carelessness in cargo storage, mechanical trouble and bad weather have been blamed.

Weather forecasters say the first typhoon of the year will hit the country this Holy Week. Passenger ships that have been rarely used throughout the lockdowns must be thoroughly inspected for seaworthiness before being sent out to sea again.

In road trips, the country is also notorious for deadly accidents particularly involving buses on long-haul trips or navigating mountain roads. The most common reason cited for the accidents is brake failure. Transport operators must ensure the proper maintenance of any vehicle registered for public conveyance. Drivers of buses and cargo trucks have also been reported to use shabu to stay awake for long trips. Transport operators must see to it that their drivers and conductors are in good health physically and mentally.

There is the continuing threat of COVID infection that cannot be ignored as people gather for religious services this Holy Week or simply to enjoy a vacation with their families and friends. Health experts have stressed that masking and hand hygiene must continue and physical distancing maintained as new coronavirus variants threaten to cause a renewed COVID surge. People are advised to get their boosters as primary vaccine efficacy wanes.

Spiritual contemplation and enjoyment of the holiday must be done as safely as possible. The pandemic isn’t over; this is still Holy Week in the time of COVID.