After the May 9 elections, possible increase in the number of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases may be seen by next week following reports of violations of public health standards during the elections, a member of the government’s vaccine expert panel said on Wednesday.
Dr. Rontgene Solante said the numerous violations in health protocols that were observed during the election may lead to a possible uptick in cases based on the incubation period of the virus.
He also added that with the ongoing community transmission of the Omicron variant, the removal of face masks, lack of social distancing, and long wait in voting precincts without proper ventilation made the elections a potential super spreader event.
“In fact, we’re [already] seeing now some patients who [tested] positive but only have mild symptoms. So it means they got it either at the precinct or before they voted; or after they voted, they got sick. So those are the possible scenarios,” he said.
Despite this, Solante believes that the country will not go into a large-scale lockdown and instead utilize improving the hospital capacity and urge more people to get tested so that they can be isolated quickly.
