FIVE elder persons, one of which was a home death, died on Mother's Day, Sunday, May 10, City Health Office (CHO) epidemiologist Dr. Joselito Retuya reported.
Among those who died was a 74-year-old male from Barangay Nazareth, Cagayan de Oro City, who, according to Retuya, has a permanent address in Cebu City.
The 74-year-old man was brought by the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Department (CDRRMD) to a private hospital due to loss of consciousness. Fever was also noted upon admission.
He was later referred to the Northern Mindanao Medical Center (NMMC) and admitted last Saturday, May 9.
He died at 4:38 p.m. Sunday due to brain herniation secondary to acute subdural hematoma.
NMMC medical specialist Bernard Rocha said the 74-year-man, who is a Covid-19 suspect, was swabbed before he died.
Retuya said they have already started the contact tracing for the 74-year-old man and initially traced around seven people, including three persons from the CDRRMD.
Also died on the same day was a 63-year-old male from Barangay Macasandig who was admitted at a private hospital after he experienced fever for three months and shortness of breath for a week.
Retuya said the 63-year-old man has no history of travel and exposure to Covid-19 patient, but he has a medical history of hypertension and chronic kidney disease.
He has an initial diagnosis of congestive heart failure, community-acquired pneumonia, and chronic kidney disease.
He was swabbed on May 10 and has his rapid test result read negative.
The remains of the 63-year-old man were cremated in a funeral home in the city in the morning of Monday, May 11.
The other three deaths involved a 71-year-old resident from outside Cagayan de Oro with an initial diagnosis of community-acquired pneumonia; a 68-year-old male from Barangay Tablon who was dead on arrival at the JR Borja General Hospital due to sudden cardiac death; and an 81-year-old female from Barangay 25 who was bedridden for almost three years and died in her home.
The 71-year-old, Retuya said, has tested negative for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) using the rapid diagnostic test.
The 81-year-old woman, on the other hand, has no history of travel and exposure to a Covid-19 patient.
Retuya said she had no cough nor fever but had hypertension.
The Department of Health has cleared her as a non-Covid patient, Retuya added.
Meanwhile, Mayor Oscar Moreno on Monday, May 11, reminded the importance of teamwork between the barangay and the CHO.
This was after a report that the 74-year-old man from Barangay Nazareth was not among the captured persons under monitoring (PUMs) of the Barangay Health Emergency Response Team (BHERT).
"Kining sa Nazareth, nakalusot kini sya sa BHERTs. I'm not blaming anyone pero mao kini ang rason nganong importante gyud kaayo ang teamwork between the barangay ug sa City Health Office," Moreno said.
"Katong sa 74-year-old sa Nazareth, wala maapil anang PUMs mao nang akong question is why? I hope nga dili na mahitabo kana (The 74-year-old patient from Nazareth, why didn't he was counted as PUM? I hope it will not happen again)," he added.
Moreno said collaboration between the barangay and the City Government, particularly the CHO, is important as information gathered by the BHERTs is essential in formulating strategies in the fight against the Covid-19 threat.
"Importante kaayo nga ang BHERTs, ang ilang activities collaborated sa barangay ug sa City Government. I hope kini, although wala pa man ang test result niya, I hope nga negative, pero I hope nga kanang makalusot sa BHERTs, this is the last (It is important that BHERT's activities are collaborated with the barangay and City Government. I hope it's negative although it is yet to be released but those who get off BHERTs, I hope it will not happen again)," Moreno said.