ILOILO City – For stricter curbs, this city is requesting for the escalation of its quarantine status to modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ).
Mayor Jerry Treñas, in his letter to National Task Force on COVID-19 chair Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, cited the sharp rise in infections here and in neighboring provinces.
The city is currently under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ).
According to Treñas, Iloilo City has been categorized under the “high risk” epidemic level as of May 15, ripe for a higher and stricter quarantine classification to curb the increase in coronavirus cases.
From April, the City Health Office logged a 209.1 percent increase in the daily average rate of cases this month.
As of May 13, the Department of Health (DOH) recorded a two-week growth rate (2WGR) of 80 percent, and an average daily attack rate per 100,000 population of 5.33.
Meanwhile, based on the Risk Classification Table, Iloilo City’s growth in cases in the recent one to two weeks as against three to four weeks is 164 percent, while its average daily attack rate (per 100,000 population) is 8.08 percent in the recent one to two weeks which is higher than the 3.06 percent in previous three to four weeks.
Treñas also noted that this city logged a total of 6,946 cases as of May 15, 2021 with a mortality doubling time of 41.82.
Of the total cumulative cases, 473 are still active cases, 179 died and 6,294 recovered.
The city mayor also cited the increase in the healthcare utilization rate and hospital occupancy rate in the city.
He said the surge in pandemic infections in the recent weeks overwhelmed hospitals.
In fact, one of the 10 hospitals – two government and eight private – operating here recorded an outbreak involving 28 confirmed cases among staff including its medical director.
“Due to the rising number of infected personnel and after reaching its full bed capacity, majority of hospitals temporarily stopped the admission of patients due to the continued surge in cases. Emergency room isolation units for emergency and urgent care designated for COVID cases are overflowing with patients waiting to be admitted,” Treñas explained.
Likewise, the city mayor also noted that neighboring provinces such as Antique, Capiz and Guimaras were similarly experiencing an “unprecedented and drastic increase” in COVID- 19 cases and thus were forced to refer their critically ill patients to Iloilo City for more advanced healthcare and also because their own facilities already reached full capacity.
“Gauging on the increasing number of admissions in such a short span of time, placing Iloilo City under MECQ is critical in lowering COVID transmissions in the locality which will eventually decongest our hospitals experiencing critical (Intensive Care Unit) occupancy rates,” the city mayor emphasized.
He lamented that most private hospitals here, despite being overwhelmed, were discouraged from increasing their bed capacities for COVID-19 patients due to late payments from the state health insurer, Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).
“In a series of dialogues with private hospitals, it was frequently echoed that they had not been paid their COVID-19 claims since the start of the pandemic. Ultimately, this major concern dissuades many hospitals, across the country, in participating and expanding their capability to manage COVID-19,” he shared.
Further, Treñas also cited that among other reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing facilities here, the Uswag Iloilo City Molecular Laboratory alone recorded an average of 12 percent positivity rate in the past 10 days and a sharp rise of 31.04 percent on May 13, 2021.
Also, with hospitals reporting an increasing number of patients being admitted in recent weeks, the capacities of quarantine facilities and isolation beds are also threatened.
Related to the concerns on expense, the Iloilo City-CESU reported that most transmissions were traced from those persons undergoing home quarantine by reason that they could not afford to observe isolation elsewhere.
“While ideally, quarantine must be undertaken in isolation facilities provided for the Iloilo City Government, the capacities and resources of the latter after more than a year of battling this pandemic have been severely diminished,” he added.
ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS
Treñas emphasized that under MECQ, more sectors would be allowed to operate but work-from-home and other flexible work arrangements may be enjoined.
In addition, he assured that the local government committed to provide assistance to the few sectors prohibited to operate during MECQ.
He noted that currently, the City Social Welfare Development Office together with other department units were already formalizing their proposals and programs of extending economic aid to people affected by the pandemic.
“Rest assured our entreaty of being classified under a higher community quarantine classification is made responsibly and with the holistic welfare of our people as the top priority. After all, we cannot fathom the devastation that may come to the business and working society if the transmission of COVID 19 is left uncontrolled,” Treñas stressed./PN
