TAGUM City in Davao del Norte has recorded the most number of new Covid-19 cases for the week of May 2 to 8, according to the Department of Health (DOH)-Davao Region.
According to the DOH-Davao data, Tagum City has a total of 119 new recorded cases for the week.
The city was followed by three Davao City districts: Talomo South District with 58 new cases, Buhangin (54), and Talomo Central District (41).
Also in the list are Compostela in Davao de Oro (37), Sto. Tomas in Davao del Norte (35), Talomo North District in Davao City (31), Carmen in Davao del Norte and Sasa District in Davao City (27), and Panabo City in Davao City (25).
Tagum City Health Officer Dr. Arnel Florendo said in a virtual presser on Monday, May 10, that they are experiencing a surge of cases due to local and community transmission.
Florendo attributed mass gatherings, lack of strict enforcement of restrictions, and lack of discipline among Tagumenyos in the observance of health protocols as the reason for the surge of cases.
The health official already had a meeting with the City Government to strengthen the measure to curb the cases.
He said Mayor Allan Rellon already issued various executive orders (EOs) to mitigate the spread of the virus in the city. These include prohibiting the joint lunch break of all City Government employees and loitering of employees within city government offices after work hours.
Mobility of government employees from one office to another has also been limited, he said.
He said essential government gatherings will only be allowed unless it will be conducted in open spaces. Organizers are also required to submit their plan on how they can observe the health protocols. This will also be expanded to private events, eventually.
Based on their data, most confirmed patients are coming from the age group of 21 to 30, and 31 to 40 years old, which are considered “working age group.”
“Nakita namo nga posible sab nga related sa pagtaas sa kaso ang panginabuhi sa pamilya, based sa akong analysis (We saw that it is possible that the working age groups, whose striving to work for income to the family, had somewhat to do with the surge of cases, based on my analysis),” he said.
He also said that some of the cases are health workers working at the city's quarantine facilities who tested positive back in March this year.
The city's isolation facility is now also experiencing full capacity due to the surge. He said they are trying to find means to expand its capacity.
“Regardless of that, kinahanglan namo i-strengthen amo measures diria sa (there is a need to strengthen our health measures here in) Tagum City. Ang nakita namo nga solution para mapababa ang kaso is istriktuhon gyud nato (We saw that implementing strict policies is the solution to decrease the cases),” the official said.
Florendo also reminded the public to continuously comply with the health protocols.
"MGCQ [modified general community quarantine] naman ta ron. Pero ang mentality sa mga tao, murag naa na sa normal na kinabuhi. Pero (We might be under MGCQ, but the public’s mentality is like everything is back to normal. But) I would like to remind the public na dili pa ni ma-normal sa pagkakaron tungod taas ta'g kaso (that we are not experiencing normalcy because cases continue to hike)," he said.
Meanwhile, Florendo said the recently issued Joint Regional Interagency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases-Regional Task Force Against Covid-19 (RIATF-RTF) 11 Resolution 01 series of 2021 or the uniform guidelines to regulate entry and exit in regional borders of the region will help the city in addressing the Covid-19 transmission.
“Mas gwapo nga istriktuhon, not na totally ma-hamper ang economic activity, pero atleast, some measures na dili na sayon ang in and out, and ma-control ang mga gikan sa gawas especially sa mga (It is better to strictly implement measures at our borders, but not to totally hamper our economic activity. But at least we implement measures to regulate those coming in and out, especially those coming from) high risk areas,” the health official said.
As of Monday, May 10, Rellon has yet to issue an EO adapting the RIATF-RTF resolution.
Based on Davao del Norte Provincial Health Office, Tagum City has a total of 1,707 cases, wherein 221 are active cases, 1,417 have recovered, and 68 have died.