MORE than 700 medical frontliners in at least 22 medical facilities in Cebu have been infected with coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in the last 14 days.
Most of the infected healthcare workers are asymptomatic. Only a few exhibited mild symptoms.
This was what Cebu City Councilor Joel Garganera, deputy chief implementer of the City Emergency Operations Center (EOC), disclosed to SunStar Cebu on Sunday, Jan. 30, 2022. He still has to get exact data of Covid-positive medical frontliners working in Cebu City and Cebu City residents who are working in other hospitals in other neighboring cities or municipalities.
This development affects the operations in the hospitals in Cebu, said Garganera.
“Maka-apektar gyud (It can really affect). The number of beds available will depend on the number of medical frontliners tasked to oversee its operation,” he said.
Garganera said the Covid-positive frontliners were fully vaccinated and boostered.
In Cebu City alone, the critical care occupancy rate had reached 60.81 percent as of Jan. 27. This after 391 of the total 643 beds allocated for Covid-19 were occupied.
Based on the Department of Health’s classification, Cebu City was still at moderate risk in its occupancy rate on Jan. 27. A moderate-risk classification means from 60 percent to less than 70 percent occupancy rate.
The utilization rate for the combined Covid and non-Covid beds had reached 45.39 percent as of Jan. 27. This after 955 of the combined 2,104 beds allocated for Covid and non-Covid cases were occupied.
The non-Covid bed utilization rate had reached 38.60 percent as of Jan. 27, after 564 of the total 1,461 beds set aside for non-Covid cases were occupied.
Decreasing cases
Despite the decreasing number of daily cases in the city, Garganera said it is very early to tell that the infections are indeed going down.
Cebu City reported 474 new cases on Jan. 27, bringing the active cases to 7,663.
“We don’t want to give false news to the constituents because complacency is our enemy. We want to continually monitor it for another week. By then, we will get to see a clearer picture of our status,” he said.
“A week or two, then we can perhaps more or less see the trend that will qualify us to deescalate to Level 2,” he added, considering that Cebu City and the entire Central Visayas are still placed under Alert Level 3 status until Feb. 15.
Garganera said it was still expected that the fresh cases on Sunday would still be in triple digits.
The EOC did not release its Covid-19 statistics for Jan. 28, 29 and 30.
Garganera also could say that the drop of the daily positivity rate (DPR) to 36.80 percent on Jan. 27 from 42.90 percent last Jan. 26 was good news.
He said the 36.80 percent DPR is way above the threshold set by the World Health Organization (WHO), which states the positivity rate below five percent for two weeks is an indicator that an epidemic is controlled.
The mortalities were also increasing in the last nine days.
Garganera earlier disclosed that the city had a total of 52 Covid-19 deaths in the first 27 days of January, of whom 45 died in the last eight days with an average of five to six deaths per day.
Of the 45 deaths, 29 were unvaccinated, 11 had only a first dose and five were fully vaccinated. The EOC considers people vaccinated with only the first dose of a two-dose vaccine as unvaccinated.
Antigen tests
Meanwhile, Garganera stressed that self-testing using the rapid antigen test kits, which prompted others to go on home isolation, could be the reason why the cases in the city have decreased.
“Doctors have informed me that they are managing patients at home. This is acceptable and is advisable, especially if your home qualifies for home isolation. The strategy with Omicron is to isolate ASAP to minimize spread,” said Garganera, adding that the EOC will always monitor since they are data-driven and do not want the decreasing trend to be a fake decrease in numbers.
The City does not yet have a policy concerning the use of rapid antigen test kits even though there are people who resorted to this due to its immediate results and affordability.
“Antigen tests are highly specific for positive results. That means if you test positive, you have the virus. On the other hand, it is less sensitive for Covid-19; therefore, it will have a higher false negative rate, meaning, you may test negative but actually have the virus. Because of this, antigen testing can be used for rapid screening and can be confirmed by a PCR test if necessary,” Garganera said.
Oplan Puyo Gihapon
Meanwhile, Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama issued Executive Order 158 extending the enforcement of Oplan Puyo Gihapon until Feb. 15 while the city is placed under Alert Level 3.
This means only fully vaccinated individuals ages 12 and above are the ones allowed to enter closed and indoor venues and establishments including malls and department stores. The said age group of minors, however, must also be accompanied by fully vaccinated guardians or parents.
In the new EO, Rama said entry into malls, shopping centers and department stores for purposes of securing medical, dental, governmental and other essential goods and services including attendance or participation in humanitarian and or governmental activities shall be allowed regardless of vaccination status.
Further, Rama also issued a directive to the Task Force Puyo to enforce the existing ban on the use of firecrackers, fireworks and pyrotechnics in the city on the occasion of and during the whole celebration of Chinese New Year this year starting Jan. 30 until Feb. 1.