BAUKO, Mountain Province – The municipal government is aggressively working on the sustained implementation of stricter border controls to contain the continuous surge in the number of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases following the easing up of community quarantine rules that allowed the uninterrupted entry of individuals from various areas that previously recorded high cases over the past several months.
Mayor Abraham B. Akilit expressed disappointment over the recent surges in the number of COVID-19 cases not only in the municipality but also in other areas in the country caused by the influx of people from places that have high incidents of the illness that subsequently translated to the spread of the virus in the localities that took extra care of the health and safety of their constituents through the enforcement of appropriate border controls during the various levels of community quarantine for over a year now.
He claimed that what primarily caused the surges in COVID cases in the different parts of the province was the relaxing of the border controls by the various local governments to pave the way for the gradual and safe recovery of the economy but the same proved to be detrimental to the gains of the enhanced community quarantine in the past.
The local chief executive stated that the frequent travelers and a number of locally stranded individuals (LSIs) were the ones that caused the local and community transmission of the virus in the different parts of the province that resulted to surges in the number of cases that nearly compromised the local health care system and stressed the limited number of frontliners.
Mayor Akilit pointed out that there is a need for concerned government agencies and local governments to formulate strategies that will prevent further surges in the number of cases in their areas of jurisdiction while allowing the gradual and safe revival of the economy as people have to get back their jobs and their economic activities for their sustenance.
Akilit was one of the local chief executives in Mountain Province who previously contracted COVID-19 and was able to recover from the virus after undergoing isolation.
According to him, the restoration of the stricter border controls, inter-municipality, inter-provincial and inter-regional, will help contain the surge in the number of cases in the province to allow the local health care system to be decongested so that there will be opportunities for the revival of the local economy.
Aside from the capital town of Bontoc, Bauko is one of the province’s municipalities that recorded the highest number of COVID cases since the implementation of the various levels of community quarantine that started on March 17, 2020.
Akilit urged residents to continue adhering to the implementation of the basic health and safety protocols which is the primary weapon against the rapid spread of the virus in their communities while waiting for the arrival of the vaccines by the later part of the year that will help in providing added protection against dreaded illness.
He explained that the imposition of the restrictions on the movement of the people is not meant to curtail their freedom but instead to ensure that they will be spared from contracting the virus and compromising the health and safety of their families and friends. By HENT
