BY MAE SINGUAY AND DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – To arrest the uptick in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infections, the Philippine Society for Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (PSMID) suggested doing away with “dine ins” in restaurants.
Restaurateurs, however, were adamant, according to Mayor Evelio Leonardia.
On June 6, the Department of Health (DOH) Region 6 bulletin showed Bacolod recording 128 new COVID-19 cases.
Under the modified general community quarantine, restaurants are allowed to accept diners at 50 percent of their total capacity.
According to Leonardia, upon learning PSMID’s suggestion restaurant owners asked the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) here to allow them to operate even at just 30 percent of their capacity.
Leonardia said he would allow the restaurants to do so but stressed that minimum health protocols must be enforced always.
The PSMID previously said there was a dearth of nurses and hospital beds here as the number of COVID-19 patients increase.
According to PSMID’s Dr. Ria Cocjin, the ratio of nurses to patients is one to three – sometimes to five or seven.
“Right now makita mo man puno gid ang mga hospitals…There are also hospitals that have 15 to 50 patients in the waiting list for admission,” she said.
According to City Administrator Em Ang, executive director of the EOC, they have already asked for augmentation from the national government.
VACCINES
In a related development, Bacolod received an additional shipment of 10,000 COVID-19 vaccines over the weekend.
City Health Office (CHO) head Dr. Edwin Miraflor Jr., said the 10,000 CoronaVac doses from Chinese biotech company Sinovac will be inoculated to those receiving either their first dose or second dose.
From the Bacolod Silay Airport, the vaccines were immediately transported to the CHO’s cold storage facility at the Bacolod City Government Center.
As of June 4, this city had already administered 37,150 doses of COVID-19 vaccines – 15,432 CoronaVac jab and 21,718 British-made AstraZeneca vaccine./PN
