On the extension of the State of Public Health EmergencyRep. Joey Sarte Salceda, 12 September 2022

September 12th, 2022

I am looking at five key barometers for this decision.

1. Do we now know better how to treat COVID-19? Yes, we do.
2. Do we now have a working vaccine? Yes, we do.
3. Are our neighbors dropping their emergency classifications? Not all. Singapore is moving away from this. Thailand will remain under emergency until Sep. 30. Malaysia has undertaken an official “reopening” phase since May.
4. Has our healthcare capacity significantly improved? Yes, but not at pace with the rise in cases. Total bed capacity has increased by 267% and mechanical ventilators have increased by 93%, but daily new cases are also more than 1000% of April 12, 2020 cases, when the pandemic hit its first month of community transmission.
5. Will the lifting hurt or help our economic recovery or healthcare expansion? Since we are a net recipient of vaccines from COVAX, and some therapeutics are still on an emergency use authorization (EUA) basis, it might hurt our COVID-19 case system if we prematurely withdraw the emergency declaration.

My proposal is to extend the health emergency declaration, but also set an official timeline with milestones for the “full reopening” phase.

Keeping the public health emergency declaration effective will help us bolster our healthcare system. But we can fully withdraw some of the more restrictive or even militaristic aspects of our anti-COVID-19 measures, such as heavyhanded rules on masking, in favor of a more positive or affirmative approach.

It would also help us get out of the emergency situation if we can already deal with pandemics on a more institutional level. In this regard, PBBM’s SONA priorities of the Center for Disease Control and the Virology Institute (Salceda as principal author of both) will be crucial.