COVID-19 in Cebu, Philippines
The lockdowns and quarantines have made our bubbles worse. We now meet even fewer people and the ones we meet are likely close friends and relatives. The result? A totally skewed perspective.
Even in my bubble on Medium it sometimes feels like I’m back home in Europe, in the western world, with its own perspective. But I am living in Cebu City, the second largest city in the Philippines (that’s in South-East Asia), and I figured maybe you’re interested in how things are done here. It might also help you look on how your society handles COVID-19 with fresh eyes. Or maybe it’s simply … curious to read about.
Don’t worry — I’m not going to bore you with cat pictures. Instead, I’ll give you a glimpse at how life here works at the moment. I’ll share what you can and can’t do, and how the government provides information. I’ll link to the PH government pages and news reports, so you get one step further out of your own bubble. It’s a limited perspective of course —but should still help you get a picture. (I’ve included some, too.) Enjoy!
Tracking COVID-19
At the time of this writing (May 10) the Philippines has had 10,794 cases, of which 8,151 are active, and 719 deaths.
How do I know this? I read it at the Department of Health COVID-19 tracker. Here is a partly screenshot:
The page includes case numbers, test capacity and results, and how many beds, ventilators and other resources are currently available or occupied. I was quite impressed by this level of plain transparency.
Cebu City is the biggest city of the Visayas, a beautiful island group in the middle of the country. It also got its own COVID-19 reports. Every day at 5 pm the Department of Health, Central Visayas, releases one. Here is an example:
Click here to look at the Facebook post. One picture usually gives information about individual cities and islands:
Sometimes there is even detailed info about particular neighborhoods within Metro Cebu.
What is (not) allowed at the moment?
Some, possibly surprising, news first:
The alcohol shopping ban is lifted!
Yes, it’s true, for about 6 weeks you could not buy alcohol anywhere. See the government announcement of the “Total Liquor Ban”.
The alcohol ban of course is a tiny part of a much larger set of restrictions intended to curb the spread of COVID-19: meet the Extended Community Quarantine (ECQ). Officials have verbally distinguished the ECQ from an actual lockdown, even though President Duterte himself wasn’t convinced there was much practical difference.
Here is how the ECQ looks like in practical terms:
What is open, what is closed
- Supermarkets, pharmacies are open.
- Restaurants are open for take-out / delivery
- Everything else is closed, including schools, malls and small clinics.
- Public transport is largely shut down, and so are habal-habal, Cebu’s motorcycle taxis (because you’re naturally too close to the driver). There is limited transportation for those who can go to work.
What you are allowed to do under ECQ
- One person per household is allowed to go out and do groceries.
- You can go to work if you are an essential worker, like nurses, or if your company has been given permission to operate, like many BPOs
What is forbidden
- Driving with your vehicle, depending on the day of week. On Sundays, no (non-essential) cars are allowed. See the license plate coding scheme.
- Leaving your house without an essential purpose (groceries, etc).
- Drinking alcohol publicly. Understandably, the government doesn’t want people to mingle. And a bottle of Red Horse is nothing if not an invitation to sit down together.
How is it like?
I’m in uptown Cebu, and what I see is of course very limited. From friends I hear that it’s similar where they live. Here are some observations:
F. Cabahug Street was never so empty during rush hour:
- People generally follow the rules. There are very few people on the street. With the odd exception, everyone wears masks and keeps their distance.
- Many (many) people are out of jobs.
- Every 7–11 and supermarket has alcohol for hand-washing; often a guard takes your temperature at the entrance. Sometimes you have to show your ECQ pass (see below).
- There are no bad shortages but what’s in store changed. Obviously, imported products will be impacted by supply chain problems. But it’s also bananas and mangoes — the most basic, boring fruits — that are available less.
- The air is so much better. Same as many other cities in this corner of the world, Cebu City doesn’t usually have the cleanest air. Right now, it’s fine.
- It’s quiet. If you know South-East Asian cities you know that’s not possible. They’re always bustling with life! And yet I hear the birds sing. So weird.
Squatter communities are self-isolating:
ECQ passes and checkpoints
Only one person per household is allowed to leave the house and get groceries. This is enforced with an ECQ Pass — you only get one per household.
At some supermarkets they ask for a pass, but there are also checkpoints set up throughout the city.
Government assistance
The government has implemented several programs to cushion the blow of shutting down the economy:
- The Social Amelioration Program (SAP) by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). It may include up to 8,000 PHP ($159) cash assistance and other help with food or non-food items. (Read about it in this Cebu Daily News article, or the DSWD guidelines.)
- The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) implemented the COVID-19 Adjustment Measures Program (CAMP), which deals out 5,000 PHP (roughly $100) cash assistance. (Read DOLE’s announcement or this ABS-CBN article.)
Help does not reach everyone, unfortunately. Also, the Philippines cannot afford to subsidize everyone indefinitely. President Duterte has already hinted at having to sell government assets to finance assistance programs, though of course that’d be a measure of last resort.
Timeline
Cebu is part of the Visayas island group. Think: beaches, corals, blue sea. The island part is important because: they’re isolated by default! To quarantine the population of an island all you have to do is ground planes and pull in the boats, done.
Here is a rough timeline of how COVID-19 and the governments response to it went in Cebu:
- Jan 21: Two Chinese nationals arrived in Cebu, traveled the Philippines. One of them succumbed on February 1 to COVID-19 in Manila. This was the first death of the disease outside of China. (Read about it in Cebu Daily News.)
- March 16: Cebu establishes a General Community Quarantine (GCQ). So far, no other cases have been reported. The following day domestic flights are no longer allowed.
- March 18: Metro Cebu reports its first COVID-19 case. (Read more on CNN Philippines)
- March 28: Enhanced Community Quarantine goes into effect. (Sunstar article)
- May 13: We’re still in ECQ until end of May it seems, but in a modified Enhanced Community Quarantine, while most of the country reverts back to GCQ. Read this Philstar article for details.