CEBU City Councilor Joel Garganera on Monday, Aug. 9, 2021, expressed alarm over the sharp increase in coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases, saying the City is now on its third surge.
“We are not in a good shape. It’s alarming, it’s very alarming,” Garganera, who is the deputy chief implementer of the Emergency Operations Center (EOC), said in a press conference.
On Aug. 8, the EOC recorded 22.37 percent positivity rate out of the 930 individuals tested. There were 12 deaths on the same day.
Deaths have been increasing, Garganera observed. There were 14 deaths in June, 87 in July and 50 in just the first eight days of August.
From June up to Aug. 8, the EOC recorded 7,596 Covid-19 cases with 151 mortalities. There remained 3,316 active cases.
Hospital admissions are increasing, with the Covid-19 occupancy rate in 15 hospitals in Cebu City reaching 69.5 percent on Aug. 7, much higher than the 60 percent threshold.
Of the 969 beds dedicated for Covid-19 patients in 15 hospitals, 673 were occupied while 296 beds were available.
Occupancy at temporary treatment and monitoring facilities (TTMF) is also increasing, Garganera said.
But while beds were still available, Garganera said hospitals were short of medical staff. Earlier, medical workers working in 23 different health facilities in Metro Cebu were reported to have fallen ill with Covid-19.
Workers
Cebu City Health Department (CHD) officer-in-charge Jeffrey Ibones said the City Government is looking for doctors, nurses, midwives, encoders and pharmacists who will be assigned at the City-run vaccination sites, barangay isolation centers (BIC), TTMF and hospitals.
Ibones assured that the workers will be given their salaries on time as the budget has been approved under the first supplemental budget.
Only 14 have been hired as of Monday out of the 200 target. Ibones said 100 medical workers will be assigned at the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) and other City-managed isolation facilities, and the other 100 will be deployed in private hospitals.
Garganera said there were applicants, but some of them backed out upon learning that they will be assigned at the City’s isolation facilities.
The Department of Health (DOH) Central Visayas, for its part, has deployed 116 medical frontliners to the different hospitals in the region, mostly in Cebu.
Dr. Guy Perez, assistant director of DOH 7, said in a separate press conference that 38 went to Chong Hua Hospital, 31 to Cebu Doctors’ University Hospital, 13 to Perpetual Succor Hospital, nine to UC Medical Center, and five to ARC Hospital.
Augmentation workers will also be sent to the ACE Medical Center Cebu while some have left for Negros Oriental.
Perez also urged local chief executives to provide additional TTMF beds for asymptomatic, mild and moderate patients.
Mass burial
Meanwhile, the Cebu City Government is looking at a property in Barangay Adlaon as a possible mass burial site for Covid-19 mortalities to address the long queue in crematoriums.
Garganera said the City is also negotiating with the management of an existing cemetery in Barangay Babag. He said the City targets to finalize an arrangement within the week.
The DOH 7 has pledged to provide at least 100 body bags while the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas promised to help look for a refrigerator van that can temporarily hold cadavers due for cremation or burial.
Garganera said Cebu City experienced its first surge in May to July 2020, when 7,094 individuals contracted Covid-19 and 621 died from the disease.
The second surge occurred in February to May 2021, with 11,602 infections and 162 deaths.
During the second surge, occupancy at the 15 hospitals reached a peak of only 58 percent, which is still considered in the safe zone.
Acting Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, for his part, stressed the need to aggressively implement health protocols and ramp up vaccinations.
“Figures already will never lie. Only liars cannot figure. As we are seeing the whole thing, we will definitely be agressive, but we have to think we’ve only just begun. We’ve only just begun,” said Rama. (JJL, KFD)