Healthcare System to Cope by Flattening the Curve

Every country is striving to “flatten the curve” with the recent outbreak of the new coronavirus known as COVID-19. The “curve” or the graphical representation of the number of infected cases over time is a guide to know the appropriate actions to be taken by authorities – to extend, modify, or lift the enhanced community quarantine.

The Curve

Flattening the curve is essential for a country’s health care system to cope with the rising number of infections. There is only a limited number of hospitals and health care providers which means only limited cases can be handled. Essentially, a gradual number of infections during a period of time will help the hospitals accommodate the patients. In response to this, mass testing by the authorities, social distancing by the citizens, and transparency by public officials are needed to be done.

Around 9,000 to 44,000 cases were the estimated COVID-19 confirmed cases of the University of the Philippines COVID-19 Pandemic Response Team by the end of April 2020. They also stated that at the event of rapid increase of cases, health care resources such as bed occupancy and health human resources will be overwhelmed.

Fortunately, the country’s curve is said to be on the decline as several cities observed mass testing. Before mass testing, the highest record of new cases was at 538 which was on March 31. After mass testing, however, the highest record was 271 cases on April 23.