What we know today is that there have been 33 cases of coronavirus in the Philippines. The numbers will certainly grow tomorrow, and the days after that.
It is interesting to note that many of the confirmed cases are confined in private hospitals known for their premium prices. It does not seem logical to conclude that COVID-19 prefers to attach itself only to individuals with the means to consult medical professionals—and get themselves tested—in these facilities?
What, then of the many others who may experience coughing, difficulty breathing, and fever but who eschew the idea of going to the hospital, because they could not afford to miss work which likely pays them by the day, or they simply do not have the means for a consultation, lab procedures, and medicine?
During his press conference late Monday night, President Rodrigo Duterte rambled on about test kits before mentioning the bubonic plague, the Spanish flu, the Roman empire, the inquisition and witches in his characteristic fashion. Amid our perplexity, we understood as much: There are not enough testing kits to go around. And this is the scariest revelation of all.
How can we test others who may have only mild symptoms, but could be positive nonetheless? What if they had travelled or had close contact with numerous others? And if we can’t diagnose them, how can we treat them and stop the virus from spreading?
A lack of testing kits will give us numbers lower than what they are supposed to be. But they also lull us into debilitating blindness. We are not able to grasp how big the universe of patients to treat actually is. We also dread the spread of the virus in communities where the people have no means to do the much prescribed social distancing—in cramped squatters’ areas, for instance, or in congested jails.
It is with this sense of urgency that we welcome the availability of a detection kit developed by a team of local scientists from the University of the Philippines-National Institute of Health, led by Dr. Raul Destura. Each testing kit costs P1,320—a far cry from the P8,500 cost from a foreign counterpart. It has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration and is ready for use to diagnose suspected cases of COVID-19.
In dealing with the virus and the panic it causes, common sense and basic norms are our allies. Among them: Keeping clean, staying healthy, limiting activities to essential ones, rejecting unsubstantiated claims—and improving our capacity to know exactly who need treatment so we can provide it to them.