By Joseph B.A. Marzan
Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas on Tuesday expressed confusion over the Department of Health’s (DOH) statement that there might be “low-grade community transmission” of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the city.
In a press conference, Treñas said he did not know what the DOH meant and even asked the agency to elaborate.
Dr. Jessie Glen Alonsabe, regional epidemiologist of the DOH Center for Health Development Western Visayas (DOH-CHD-6), on Monday said that they were not ruling out the possibility of community transmission in Iloilo City.
The statement was in the context of 10 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the city that were traced to St. Paul’s Hospital (SPH) in City Proper district.
“I do not really know, I even asked the DOH last night, what do they mean by ‘low-grade’ local transmission? Is it transmission below-the-belt, or whatever? They say that there is a ‘low-grade’ local transmission in Western Visayas, especially in Iloilo City. I do not know whether it is because of the [SPH] incident or whatever, but we know that in [SPH], we have already confirmed 11 or 12 patients. If we are Maybe if we’re ‘low-grade’, maybe Manila has high grades, then Cebu has passing grades,” Treñas said.
The mayor even threw “slight jabs” at the DOH, comparing it to a wife who is “difficult to understand”.
“DOH, really, is a partner, but sometimes, like a wife. They are difficult to understand,” he said.
He said that the city will continue to operate as it does despite any grade level of transmission.
“For me, I think whether we have ‘low-grade’, ‘high-grade’ or whatever kind of transmission, we have to take care of ourselves. Whether there will be more transmissions, Manila has more transmissions, they are now in [General Community Quarantine] and cases are increasing. We have to keep on working,” he said.
He also nixed changes in the measures that are currently in place.
“There are no changes insofar as I’m concerned, and tomorrow, we have a schedule tomorrow at the malls. We will try to go as many malls as we can and see if protocols are in place,” he said.
‘IMMEDIATE RESULTS’
Treñas also called on the DOH to speed up the release of COVID-19 test results.
“We need immediate results. I sometimes become impatient because results come out from the laboratory of the DOH only after eight to 12 days, and after that, you have already failed to isolate positive patients and do contact tracing on different contacts that they have made,” he said.
