POLITICIANS or anyone who has been involved in a political campaign actually do contact tracing. They do house to house. They know where their voters are and where the support of the opposition is. They build databases of voters and understand the math when it comes to putting together their vote base and capturing the undecided and even that of the support of their opponent. So, it is surprising that with the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, local government units (LGUs) are unable to determine where the vulnerable populations and where those with physical challenges are.

Now that the National Capital Region (Metro Manila) has shifted to general community quarantine (GCQ), the lead in the battle against Covid-19 shifts to the local governments at the level of the barangay (village). The problem with this effort is that there is no mandatory position for a data analyst for the province or the city. It is often lodged with the planning or the health department. For some, it remains in the archaic mold of electronic data processing — certainly a thing of the past because today it is all about networked platforms.

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