Granular lockdowns, not GCQ needed for Cebu City – Labella

CEBU CITY, Philippines—Imposing granular lockdowns and not being placed under General Community Quarantine (GCQ) is what Cebu City needs amid the rise of COVID-19 cases here.

This was the statement of Mayor Edgardo Labella on Wednesday, January 27, 2021, even as the number of active cases in the city has reached 968 as of January 26.

The mayor said he is less inclined to place the city under GCQ even though the cases increased by four times in the past month.

“I don’t see a compelling reason why need to go back to GCQ. After all, our MGCQ (Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ) is controlled. We still have quarantine passes, we still prevent crowding and big parties, and we are observing protocols,” said the mayor.

The city has prohibited various activities that are normally allowed in MGCQ areas like cockfighting, mass gathering of more than the 50 percent capacity of venues, and going out without a quarantine pass.

Cebu City is the local government unit (LGU) with the highest number of new infections in the country.

Instead of going back to GCQ, Labella prefers the continuous granular lockdown being practiced for households or sitios with positive cases.

Although he has not expressed disapproval in Barangay Guadalupe’s move to close the barangay to non-residents on Sundays, the mayor said such lockdowns should not be done by barangay.

Read: Guadalupe imposes stricter rules vs COVID-19 every Sunday

“Granular lockdowns has proven effective. I have instructed Attorney Casas that for any granular lockdown, always provide support so people will not grow hungry,” said the mayor.

City Administrator Floro Casas, Jr., has also been instructed to ensure that any granular lockdown implementation will be well-coordinated.

For the mayor, GCQ would only have adverse economic effects to the business sector.

As of now, the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) reports that hospitals are still within 20 percent bed occupancy rate and while isolation centers are filling up, the barangay isolation centers in particular remain empty.

/bmjo