Health official warns Covid-19 beds in Davao City nearing full capacity

File photo
File photo

WITH Davao City logging a record-breaking 700 new cases in a single day, the city’s Covid-19 Task Force warned that Covid-19 facilities are nearing full capacity.

"Ubay-ubay kaayo ang kadaghanon sa atoang cases. In fact, karong adlaw, 700 ta ka cases. Dili na siya joke," Covid-19 Task Force Spokesperson Dr. Michelle Schlosser said in an interview on Friday, September 10.

(We have recorded a large number of Covid-19 cases. In fact, we have recorded 700 cases today (September 10). That's not a joke.

Schlosser said this is, by far, the highest number of new cases in a single day since the pandemic hit the city in March 2020.

The 700 new cases in Davao City are part of the 1,153 new cases recorded in the entire Davao Region on September 9. This is also the highest number of new cases recorded in the region in a single day.

As of September 9, the 97 intensive care unit (ICU) beds and 503 ward beds of the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) had been fully occupied. It should be noted that SPMC has already increased its bed allocation for Covid-19 patients. On September 8, ICU beds for Covid-19 patients were at 92 while ward beds were at 496.

Since September 6, all beds for Covid-19 patients at SPMC are already full.

According to the DOH-Davao data as of September 9, a total of 73 out of the 167 ward beds in private hospitals in the city had been utilized, while only four out of the 11 ICU beds remained available. A total of 71 out of the 135 isolation beds had been utilized.

Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio earlier said the city's TTMFs utilization rate has already reached 65 percent and is expected to be filled up depending on the turnover of cases.

Davao City has 3,084 Covid-19 beds and of this number, 2,500 are TTMF/isolation beds. The mayor said 250 more TTMF beds are currently being added to augment the current supply.

Duterte-Carpio also bared that the city's Covid-19 bed capacity is full in all public and private hospitals.

Schlosser said they are alarmed with the rising number of cases, which are affecting the city’s critical care facilities. She added this might result in some patients not being accommodated, which would eventually lead to their death.

Schlosser said household transmissions, particularly due to social gatherings, have contributed to the rise in Covid-19 cases in the city.

She said among the social gatherings being conducted at home are birthday parties.

The official urged the public to refrain from doing gatherings, especially during the pandemic.

“Before ang ma-infect lang sa atong panimalay is usa, duha karon we go up to the entire family, mag-Covid na gyud sila. Ing-ana siya ka transmissible,” Schlosser said.

(Before, only one or two gets infected in a single household, but now we go up to the entire family, they get infected with the coronavirus. That’s how transmissible the virus is.)

Although she said there are also clustering of cases in offices and establishments, she noted that the current trend of transmission is mostly within residences.

With this, she said they are currently intensifying the household lockdown.

Get vaccinated

Schlosser reiterated the call for the public to have themselves vaccinated amid the rising number of Covid-19 cases, including the increasing number of detected Delta-positive specimens in the city, which rose to 21. She said they are having an ongoing retracing, reswabbing and reisolation of the added Delta variant.

The official noted that some of the vaccination centers in the city have low foot traffic due to some still having vaccine preferences.

She urged the public not to be choosy of the vaccine brands as it is the same effect, which is to protect against Covid-19.

"Unta dili ta maging choosy kay dependent pud ta sa allocation na ginahatag sa national government. Kung unsa man to ang available na vaccine, mamahimong kato atong gamiton ug mamahimong kato atong ihatag sa katawhan,” Schlosser said.

(I hope the public should not be choosy on the vaccine brands as we are only dependent on the allocation of the national government. Whatever vaccines are available on the ground, the public should take advantage of it.)

The official said the city is still aiming to vaccinate 15,000 persons per day. She said they are relying on the national government’s allocation.

As of September, the Davao City Vaccination Cluster had already vaccinated 605,434 individuals for the first dose, while 340,050 individuals were fully vaccinated after completing their second dose.

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