BY MATÈ ESPINA
WITH the declaration of the National Inter-Agency Task Force (NIATF) to place Iloilo City under the Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ), is Bacolod and Negros Occidental next in line for an elevated quarantine status as well?
Not that I would wish for it, because another community lockdown, semi or otherwise, would just be the pits especially for those who are barely surviving and have been disenfranchised because of the pandemic.
But if we based it on the records for last week’s COVID-19 cases alone, I am not sure anymore how our government agencies assess local situations. Either that, or is it dependent on the local chief executive’s recommendation?
Can the regional offices enlighten us on this, particularly the Department of Health? What other factors are looked at when determining a quarantine status?
Cumulative records from the Regional DOH from May 17-23 show that Bacolod (1,190) and Negros Occidental (1,811) still comprise almost 50 percent of active cases in the region which totals to 6,105. Iloilo City accounts for 981 of active cases while Iloilo province is at 822.
Yet, Iloilo City was placed on MECQ with a travel ban between our islands starting today. In fact, I was half expecting our side of the region to be placed on a higher quarantine status last week because apart from very high cases compared to other LGUs in the region, the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital (CLMMRH) already issued an advisory that they are already at 93 percent bed utilization.
CLMMRH medical director, Dr. Julius Drilon already wrote to Bacolod mayor Bing Leonardia and Gov. Bong Lacson about the situation stressing that six out of 7 dedicated ICU beds for COVID-19 patients are also occupied and their dedicated COVID beds in the Emergency Department is also nearing its full capacity.
The province has its own provincial hospital apart from St. Anne’s Hospital in Cadiz City in the north and the Valladolid District Hospital in the south, serving as dedicated COVID hospitals. But Bacolod does not have its own hospital and relies on the CLMMRH which is located in the city.
The state of Bacolod has been highlighted and angered many during this pandemic because the city government pushed through with the implementation of its aesthetic projects like the coliseum and sidewalk paving over a much needed city hospital.
Not only that, CLMMRH is a tertiary hospital and supposed to be reserved for critical cases in Negros but has been relegated to serve indigent residents of the city. In fact, there are times when Bacolod residents have to be admitted to the provincial hospital or neighboring city hospitals because apart from a Lying-in health facility, the supposedly highly-urbanized Bacolod does not have its own hospital.
Back to the COVID situation, granting that it is based on percentage of the population and we are higher by over a 100,000 residents in the capital city as compared to Iloilo City, and over half a million in the province compared to Iloilo province, if we account for almost half of the total cases in the region, the regional DOH should do some further assessment as well here.
May 17, Negros Occidental had a high of 117, followed by Iloilo City with 50 cases, Iloilo province with 45 and Bacolod had 32. May 18 – Bacolod (72) including 10 LSIs, Negros Occidental (49), Iloilo City (46), Iloilo province (26). May 19 – Iloilo City (64), Bacolod (59), Iloilo province (51), Antique (42) and Neg. Occ. (31).
May 20 – Bacolod (82), Iloilo City (77) Iloilo province (56), Neg. Occ. (33). That particular day though, Capiz had a spike of 81 cases from a zero case the previous day. I guess this is again based on late reporting from laboratories.
In fact, media here are having a hard time following data because both Bacolod and the provincial government here provide real-time data which is oftentimes different from the one issued by DOH on a particular day.
We saw a surge as we ended the week last Friday with Bacolod recording 144 cases followed by Negros Occ. with 137, Iloilo City had 77, Iloilo province had 59, Capiz with 57 and Aklan with 27 while the rest were single digits.
May 22, the province here had a high of 153 cases followed by Iloilo province with 74, Iloilo City with 57, Bacolod with 43, Capiz and Antique with 41 and 40 respectively and Aklan with 20. Guimaras, probably because it is isolated from the mainland and has fewer population had only 4 cases.
Last Sunday, Iloilo province took the lead with 101 cases followed by Neg. Occ. with 93 including 16 LSIs and three returning Filipinos, Bacolod with 86 cases, Iloilo City with 42 closely followed by Capiz with 40 and Aklan with 35.
In short, if we based it on the official figures coming from DOH without explanation, anyone would deem it confusing as to why we are not even placed on stricter quarantine here. We have been in this for over a year now yet, to date, I have yet to be convinced that the NIATF or even the RIATF is a credible task force to be in-charged of our situation./PN
