The Department of Health (DOH) on Saturday justified the government’s decision to raise Alert Level 4 in Northern Samar until January 31, saying the province has already filled 80 percent of its bed capacity for coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) patients.
Malacañang previously said an escalation to Alert Level 4 means that an area has reached more than 70 percent in health care utilization rate and has an alarmingly high two-week growth and average daily attack rates (ADAR).
“Gusto ko lang hong ipaliwanag, iyon pong naging desisyon ng IATF (Interagency Task Force) sa pag-escalate to Alert Level 4, ang Northern Samar po nakapag-dedicate na po sila ng 80 percent of their beds for Covid-19. Ang ibig sabihin po noon, 20 percent na lang po ang kanilang natitira na capacity kung saka-sakaling tataas pa ang mga kaso (I just want to explain that the decision of IATF to escalate Northern Samar to Alert Level 4 is because they have already dedicated 80 percent of their beds for Covid-19. That means they only have 20 percent left if ever cases continue to rise),” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said during the Laging Handa briefing.
Vergeire classified the province as “high risk” in terms of health care utilization.
“So para po maibsan at saka ma-control muna ang pagdami ng kaso at ma-manage natin ang kanilang health care system capacity kaya po napagdesisyunan na i-escalate sila because they’ve reached the metrics already (To control the transmission and to mage their healthcare systems capacity, we decided to escalate because they’ve already reached the metrics),” she added.
On January 21, Kalinga, Ifugao, Mountain Province, and Northern Samar were also placed under Alert Level 4.
Northern Samar Provincial Health Officer Dr. Ninfa Caparroso-Kam said they would ask the IATF to reconsider and reclassify the province back to Alert Level 3.
She claimed the province erred on its hospital bed tracker after including beds in isolation facilities.
“Iyong nasa isolation facility, these are our health care workers na nagkaroon ng mild symptoms kaya nandudoon sila sa isolation. So akala nila na dapat ibilang ito, i-include ito sa aming count doon sa bed tracker. So unfortunately, na-isama ito kaya I guess ito iyong pinagbasehan ng IATF para ilagay kami sa (Those in the isolation facility, these are our health care workers who got mild symptoms. We thought that they had to be included in the count. So unfortunately, I think this was where the IATF based their decision to put us in) Alert Level 4,” she said.
She also said for a province like Northern Samar to reach Alert Level 4, the ADAR should be 7 percent or more.
In their case, she said it is only at 3.25.
In addition, the doubling time should be greater than 200 to qualify as critical but the province is only at “84 to a hundred”, Kam said.
Source: Philippines News Agency