BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – Negros Occidental governor Eugenio Jose Lacson prefers keeping the province-wide curfew from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. even if cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are going down.
According to Lacson, he is just being cautious.
The province is currently under pandemic Alert Level 2 but the governor said it remains unclear if Negros Occidental could further lower this to Alert Level 1.
The situation depends how the residents behave, he stressed.
Though he looks forward to normalcy returning to the province, Lacson said he is reminded of the aftermath of the 2021 holiday season when people started letting their guards against COVID-19 down – there was a surge in infections.
The election season is also a concern, he said, particularly people’s behavior when candidates are campaigning.
Maintain physical distancing is a challenge, he said.
The provincial government is aiming to reach its target population of 1.825 million for COVID-19 vaccination this February. The number is equivalent to 70 percent of the province’s 2.607 million total population.
Lacson said there is a need to exert effort to meet the target.
“We should really give it a final push if we want to meet the February deadline so it would be a photo finish. I think we are now 60 percent of our target. That’s still 40 percent, it really takes a lot of effort to meet,” he added.
Lacson said he is optimistic Negros Occidental can “finally reach herd immunity” by meeting the target within the month.
Data from the Provincial Health Office further showed at least nine local government units have reached more than 70 percent of their target population with at least one dose.
Earlier, Dr. Ernell Tumimbang, provincial health officer, said the government’s advocacy is important in convincing the people to avail of the COVID-19 jabs.
He added though there is an abundant supply of vaccines, there are no takers, particularly in areas with less than 50 percent accomplishment rate.
“There are still those who don’t know why they need to get vaccinated and are not aware of the importance of the vaccine, that’s a major concern,” Tumimbang said. (With a report from the Philippine News Agency/PN)
