CEBU, Philippines — Top officials from the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases will be in Cebu City today to assess the city’s COVID-19 situation to determine what quarantine status the city should be in after June 15.
The general community quarantine classification of Cebu City and the rest of Central Visayas will end on June 15.
The city government and Department of Health (DOH)-7 are ready with data to present to IATF to explain the rise of cases in the city, as well as plans to address issues surrounding the health care system here.
Earlier, Dr. Tony Leachon, a special adviser of the task force, said the city can revert to MECQ or even ECQ if cases continue to rise.
But DOH-7 Director Jaime Bernadas backed Mayor Edgardo Labella’s statement that the spike in the number of cases recently is due to backlogs in the release of the test results.
“Ang pirmirong entrada sa Mayo, mao kadtong ang nagdagan nato nga laboratoryo Vicente Sotto (Memorial Medical Center) lamang. Nagsugod ang usa ka laboratoryo sa Mayo 5, unya sa hinapos na dayon, sa hinapos sa Mayo, there were a lot of interrupting problems in our laboratory, in terms of availabilities of re-agents, in terms of availability sa atong processor machines, ug ang atong gitawag nga importante kaayo nga extraction kits ug extraction machine,” Bernadas said yesterday.
(When May entered, the only laboratory we had was the one at Vicente Sotto. The second laboratory became functional on May 5. Towards the end of May, we encountered many interrupting problems in our laboratory, in terms of availabilities of re-agents, in terms of availability of processor machines, and extraction kits and extraction machines.)
The two laboratories became fully functional again toward the end of May and at the start of June.
“Fortunately, ato sa padayon sa tumoy na sa Mayo, and entrada sa June, nidagan na gyud completely ang atong duha ka laboratoryo, busa atong makita sa atong mga releases niining duha ka semana, ni-paspas ang increase sa atong mga positibo sa mga kaso diri sa Region 7,” Bernadas said.
(Fortunately, at the end of May and at the start of June, the two laboratories became fully functional that’s why we could see the spike in the number of cases in the last two weeks in Region 7.)
Bernadas said 80 percent of the cases are asymptomatic and only 20 percent showed symptoms. Two percent are confined in hospitals and less than one percent are severe cases.
“So, kung tan-awn nato, ang indicator – case and time, critical utilization rate, support system utilization – increased to 70 percent because infirmaries are not yet fully functional,” Bernadas said.
At the moment, only the Bayanihan Field Center-I at the former Sacred Heart School for Boys is functional. Three others are yet to receive patients.
The Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (OPAV) has said that no less than Secretary Carlito Galvez, IATF’s chief implementer, vouched for Cebu City’s readiness to transition to GCQ last month.
Cebu City, alongside Mandaue City and Lapu-Lapu City, has taken part of the OPAV-initiated Project Balik Buhay, which included the targeted mass testing in the three urban cities.
Hospitals
Meanwhile, Bernadas said the Cebu City government and its hospitals have already discussed capacity planning and measures on slowing the rate of cases down.
This is based on the meeting with DOH, the City Health Department, and some doctors representing different hospitals, both government and private.
A source who asked not to be identified told The Freeman that the meeting ended well and hospital representatives agreed to work hand in hand with the City Health Department.
It was reportedly agreed that in order to decongest hospitals, patients who are waiting for test results or those already out of danger and are already recovering may be transferred to quarantine facilities. These include patients not from Cebu City.
It can be recalled that Barangay Pardo, Cebu City Captain Manolita “Litang” Abarquez and her partner had to be brought to a hospital in Lapu-Lapu City as hospitals in Cebu City could no longer accommodate them. The two passed away last Sunday.
“As to the general consensus during the meeting at the City Hall, we are still okay. We will be okay. Everybody happy kay nagkasibot na ang tanan – hospitals/doctors present,” the source said.
The source said the meeting was supposed to be only among doctors, DOH, and the City Health Department but Cebu City Administrator Floro Casas, Jr. ended up joining the meeting and served as moderator after Labella asked them to meet altogether before today’s visit of IATF. JMO (FREEMAN)