Hard lessons from half a year of Covid lockdown

HAS the Duterte administration and its Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, or IATF-EID, done well in managing both the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) contagion and the resulting economic slump?

Fellow columnist Antonio Contreras offered a well-argued assessment last week, citing late action against Covid-19 from China, poor testing and tracing, inadequate hiring and protection of health care workers (HCWs), and distractions like the ABS-CBN franchise battle (https://www.manilatimes.net/2020/08/06/opinion/columnists/topanalysis/the-fault-is-ultimately-with-the-president/751278/).