Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said he is not yet inclined to lift the curfew in Negros Occidental, after the province was downgraded to Alert Level 2, and following a steady decline of COVID-19 active cases in the past two weeks.
“I feel we should still keep the curfew,” Lacson said, although he stressed that he is also looking forward to that development.
The curfew hours in Negros Occidental are from 12 a.m. to 4 a.m. for adults, and from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. for minors.
Lacson stressed that he is always on the side of “caution”.
The Provincial Health Office reported yesterday that 1,291,349 Negrenses have already been vaccinated, as of Feb. 12, which is equivalent to 61.54 percent of the targeted 2,098,421 population.
It still needs to vaccinate 807,072 individuals to reach the population protection against COVID-19, the PHO report said.
COVID active cases in Negros Occidental also dropped to 1,992, as of Feb. 16.
Asked if the province can sustain the declining COVID-19 cases, Lacson said “it depends on how we behave,” as he noted that cases went up in the first two months of 2022 after the celebration of the yuletide season. The cases were also down in the last quarter of 2021.
With the start of the campaign period, Lacson said he noted the difficulties in maintaining social distancing during the sorties of national candidates, as observed in Metro Manila and other areas in the country, despite the guidelines released by the Commission on Elections to maintain the health protocols.
“I can’t tell if we can maintain this present situation, or bring it down,” he said, referring to the declining COVID-19 cases. “It really depends on how we behave during the election period,” he added.
Lacson said there is also no reason to relax vaccination. “In fact, we should even push for it.” — GB
