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NegOr guv shuns ECQ despite surge in Covid-19 cases

Governor Roel Degamo on Monday said there would be no higher quarantine classification for Negros Oriental and this capital city, and the modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) would remain amid the surge of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases.

Degamo spoke during a virtual press briefing at the Capitol even as the OCTA Research Team, in a social media post on Monday said “Dumaguete City is the area of most concern outside the NCR (National Capital Region) Plus”.

The post said the city had a 129 percent one-week growth rate and an average daily attack rate (ADAR) of almost 70 per 100,000 which puts this city under “extremely high risk”.

Degamo said the request of the Dumaguete City Council for a higher quarantine status through a resolution coursed through the provincial and regional Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) last week, will have to be forwarded to the national government which has the authority to approve it or not.

He said he does not believe an ECQ implementation would solve the problem of Covid-19 spike in the province.

The immediate response to the surge is to impose the so-called zone containment strategy (also known as granular lockdowns) in the barangays or even in smaller areas or clusters where positive cases have been reported, the governor said.

Degamo said the province could not afford to place the province in total lockdown or ECQ because the economy and many people would be affected, especially the daily wage earners.

At least 10 barangays are now being eyed for possible containment zones, said Dumaguete City executive consultant for security, retired police general Rey Lyndon Lawas, in an interview Monday afternoon.

He said this was decided during a meeting with Degamo early Monday, where he was sent to represent the city mayor.

Lawas said these barangays, which have the highest number of Covid-19 cases in this capital, are Piapi, Bagacay, Banilad, Bantayan, Batinguel, Junob, Bajumpandan, Daro, Calindagan, and Motong.

Instead of placing an entire barangay under granular lockdown, Lawas said he recommended placing certain clusters within that village where a number of households have Covid-19 cases.

“It is not easy to place an entire barangay under a granular lockdown because it requires logistics and resources,” he said in mixed English and Cebuano dialect.

Meanwhile, the Silliman University Medical Center Foundation, Inc. (SUMCFI) here has reassured the public that despite its shortage in beds for Covid-19 cases and other illnesses, it has home referral services where doctors can visit patients at their residences.

In a press conference Monday afternoon, Dr. Rowena Samarez, chairperson of the SUMC Covid Occupational Safety and Health, said the services were offered even before the current surge of cases in Negros Oriental these past several weeks.

Samarez said this is in response to the present situation in the biggest hospitals with long lists of patients waiting for admission.

Negros Oriental Assistant Provincial Health Officer Dr. Liland Estacion, in another press briefing Monday morning, called on the people to immediately submit themselves for assessment by a health care provider after the onset of signs and symptoms of Covid-19.

“Please do not wait until your condition worsens, considering that our hospitals are overflowing with patients,” she said in mixed English and Cebuano dialect.

Her appeal came as reports circulated about patients dying of Covid-19 in their homes or at a hospital emergency room because they could no longer be attended to.

Estacion said Degamo has ordered that all government hospitals in the towns and cities in the province be used as treatment facilities for coronavirus

Source: Philippines News Agency