FACED with criticisms from the Department of Health (DOH), the independent Octa Research on Friday, May 5, 2023, admitted that the positivity rate cannot show the whole picture of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) trend.
In a televised public briefing, Octa fellow Guido David admitted that the positivity rate alone should not indicate if the Covid-19 situation in the country is on the rise or not.
"The positivity rate is one indicator. It’s not the only indicator but it’s one indicator that shows that infections are on the rise," said David.
"The positivity rate is just one indicator to guide us as it shows infections are on the rise. At least we are informed that, yes, infections are increasing," he added.
The Octa fellow said they are issuing positivity rate bulletins in a bid to provide the public with any available information.
"We want the people to have personal responsibility. For people to have personal responsibility, the best we can do is to arm them with information, whatever it is that we have," David said.
He issued the statement after the DOH repeatedly dismissed the regular release of positivity rates by OctaResearch.
The DOH said that the positivity rate is not the sole criterion in monitoring the country’s Covid-19 situation as many other factors or measures should be considered.
David said they also agree with the DOH that the Covid situation should not be compared to the previous waves in the country.
He said this is because the healthcare utilization rate is not expected to surge parallel to the Coivd-19 cases.
"The healthcare utilization, we don’t expect it to rise to critical levels. In fact, healthcare utilization rate in Metro Manila is still at 25 percent," he said.
"We don’t expect it to reach 40 percent. It will be safe at low levels," added David.
The DOH earlier said the country should not be alarmed by increasing cases as most are just mild cases.
The DOH said that proof of this is the low healthcare utilization rates across the country. (HDT/SunStar Philippines)