As cases continue to decrease in Bacolod City, the Octa Research Group classified yesterday, March 7, the Negros Occidental capital city as a “very low risk” area in terms of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) transmission.
Aside from Bacolod, the group also classified as “very low risk” areas the cities of Tacloban, Baguio, Dagupan and Olongapo.
Octa Research fellow Dr. Guido David, in a statement, said the status of the five highly urbanized cities (HUCs) was downgraded to “very low risk” as of March 6 from low risk on March 2.
Bacolod’s average daily attack rate (Adar) was at 0.90 percent, reproduction rate at 0.18 percent, and positivity rate at two percent.
Records from the Department of Health (DOH) in Western Visayas showed that only 15.9 percent of the hospital beds intended for Covid-19 patients in Bacolod City are utilized as of Sunday, March 6.
The city’s health care utilization rate stood at 14.6 percent, the regional line agency reported.
With the continuing decline of Covid-19 cases in Bacolod, 18 of the 20 schools used as quarantine facilities in the city were already shut down effective yesterday.
All Covid-19 patients in these schools have already been released yesterday, March 7.
Em Ang, who is the executive director of the Emergency Operations Center-Task Force (EOC-TF), said that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has asked the Department of Education (DepEd) to prepare the schools for the coming elections as they will be used as voting precincts.
Some of these schools will also conduct the limited face-to-face classes by next year, she said.
Currently, only Graciano Lopez Jaena Elementary School (GLJES) and Education and Training Center School (ETCS) IV will remain open to accommodate the Covid-19 patients.
Pregnant women, who contracted Covid-19, will be isolated at GLJES since the school is equipped with facilities.
Ang said that the city will no longer use these schools as quarantine facilities for Covid-19 patients once the evacuation center at Barangay Vista Alegre has been completed.
Ang said the evacuation center will be an additional non-school-based quarantine facility aside from the midway referral facility at Barangay Alijis.
She disclosed that since last week, Bacolod City recorded single-digit new Covid-19 cases because majority of the Bacolodnons already availed the vaccines.
Meanwhile, DOH earlier said that it will stop issuing daily Covid-19 case bulletin, as it will be done on a weekly basis with focus on severe and critical cases and intensive care unit utilization rate.
David said this will affect the Octa’s monitoring of the pandemic situation in the country because they can no longer see the trends.
As of now, he said, it’s not an issue yet, but there is a possibility that they could no longer say if there is another variant, because they do not have visibility anymore.
As of March 6, Bacolod City has a total of 27, 082 Covid-19 infections, DOH-Western Visayas records further showed.
Of the number, 26, 825 patients already recovered, 159 active cases with 832 deaths.
On the same day, it has four new Covid-19 cases, it added.*