By Joseph B.A. Marzan
Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas on Sunday ditched the idea of placing the city under Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) even as the city logged an average of 109 coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases daily since August 24.
The City Epidemiological Surveillance Unit (CESU) confirmed 654 new COVID-19 cases in the past six days (Aug. 23 to 28), with 534 (81.65 percent) of these cases identified as local transmissions, and 113 (17.27 percent) as index cases.
The remaining 7 cases were belatedly reported after the patients succumbed to the disease.
The CESU also confirmed 62 new cases as of 12 pm of August 29, with 5 index cases, 55 of local transmission, and 2 posthumously confirmed.
Treñas also told Daily Guardian in a phone interview that a case of the Delta variant (B.1.617.2) had been identified, a former call center worker.
The mayor said the surge in local transmissions were traced to cases from Iloilo province, where cases are also swelling.
Iloilo provincial government data as of Aug. 28 indicated an average of 222 new COVID cases per day in August 2021.
Many health workers have also tested positive for COVID, with the Iloilo Doctors Hospital announcing last Saturday that it would temporarily suspend COVID admissions after 7 nurses tested positive.
Despite these developments, Treñas said he did not see the need to escalate the city to a more restrictive community quarantine status.
Neither was he thinking about escalating current MECQ restrictions, citing the economic impact of the month-long ECQ which lasted from July 16 to August 15.
He also cited the recent announcement on the retention of the city’s Modified ECQ (MECQ) status and granular or surgical lockdowns and tightened border controls implemented in the past week.
He also added that the city had increased its COVID testing capacity by inviting symptomatic persons to take free confirmatory RT-PCR tests at the Jubilee Hall.
“At this moment, we are not thinking about a stricter quarantine status because we have already been struggling to give out food assistance to the people as many have become poorer. If we go into ECQ, other businesses will be closing down. If we close them down, the city cannot give as much food assistance as we can, and I am almost certain that the national government cannot give more cash assistance,” Treñas said.
The city government is finalizing a Memorandum of Agreement with the West Visayas State University Medical Center (WVSU-MC) to give the latter funding for the use of its genome sequencing technology in detecting COVID variants.
This was on top of the P295-million funding from the national government to expand the genome sequencing capabilities by the Philippine Genome Center (PGC), including its Visayas facility at the University of the Philippines in Miag-ao, Iloilo.
Treñas also mentioned that Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Mark Villar has initially approved a 66-bed modular hospital for mild and moderate cases, to be set up at Barangay Sooc in Arevalo district.
The DPWH is also currently building another isolation facility beside it for step-down, and both facilities may be finished by September, Treñas said.
VACCINES
Treñas also said that the city government was “actively moving” to ramp up COVID-19 vaccinations in the city due to the recent spikes.
Vaccination activities are also being taken to nine barangays daily starting today, in an effort to increase vaccinations among city residents.
The mayor said that more than 10,000 additional doses of COVID vaccines are expected to arrive this week, which will be used for the village-based jab sessions, as well as house-to-house vaccinations for senior citizens, persons with disabilities, and those with comorbidities.
Last week, 28,000 doses of the 600,000-dose order by the city government arrived, which he said will also be used in the rollout.
The BDO Foundation also recently told the city government that they would provide additional nurses to administer the shots.
“We will continue to vaccinate as much as we can. I was saddened by a 45-year-old driver from Sooc who died of COVID, unvaccinated. We really need to vaccinate more people here in the city,” he said.
