No more home quarantine for Davao COVID-19 patients

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Home isolation for COVID patients with mild symptoms and who are asymptomatic is no longer an option in this city.

Michelle Schlosser, spokesperson for the city’s COVID-19 task force, said home quarantine is no longer allowed now that temporary treatment and monitoring facilities (TTMF) can accommodate more patients.

Asymptomatic patients and those with mild symptoms were admitted to TTMF starting last Wednesday.

Schlosser said those who are under home isolation would just have to complete their quarantine.

In September, the city’s COVID-19 task force allowed home quarantine for some patients due to a surge in the number of cases. The move was aimed to decongest TTMF and prioritize those in dire need of medical assistance.

“We are going to stop home isolation... We only allow home isolation if there is a surge. Currently, we are not anymore within the surge,” Schlosser said. “We have enough COVID beds. We can accommodate them in our TTMF.”

Schlosser said some TTMFs were closed due to lack of patients.

The Department of Health-Davao regional office said the number of active cases in Davao City was down to 730 as of Wednesday, with 35 new infections recorded.

“This is for the past 14 days. This is very low. Our positivity rate this week is seven. That’s actually very low,” Schlosser said.