12 Days Under GCQ and Counting

On May First, our province was downgraded from Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) to General Community Quarantine (GCQ). Meaning some of the restrictions were lifted, and the people have a certain degree of liberty to go out.

What’s In General Community Quarantine?

• Under the GCQ, persons between 20 and 60 can go out in the streets already. But the senior citizens need a quarantine-pass, in case they need to go out and buy some provisions. Persons under twenty are not allowed to go out as well.
• Some businesses have reopened. This means the economy could at least start to move again.
• Malls are open but limited. The grocery store is open but the other departments are closed. They also limit the number of people going in.
• Restaurants can open but for take-out orders only.
• Social-distancing is strictly observed.
• Wearing face-masks is required whenever you go out.
• Tricycles are the main mode of public transportation here. They are allowed to operate at limited capacity, and only one passenger is allowed.
• We can move about within the province, but coming in from our neighboring provinces is still restricted. There are still no passenger planes and other modes of transportation to and from the other provinces in the country except for those transporting goods.

Our province is just one of the number of provinces placed under GCQ. We haven’t had any new cases of covid-19 for the past four weeks and all the PUIs were already cleared. This lesser version of quarantine is still imposed to prevent the resurgence of the virus or the so-called Second Wave.

Some provinces are still under the ECQ, which is almost similar to a full lockdown. The number of cases continues to rise in those areas.