BY ADRIAN P. NEMES III
The Covid-19 recovery rate in Bacolod City increased to 93 percent, based on the case bulletin issued by the Department of Health in Western Visayas Tuesday.
Of the 15,780 accumulated cases in Bacolod, 14,691 have recuperated while active cases stood at 720 or about 4.6 percent of the total number of infected individuals since the pandemic started, the DOH-6 record showed.
It added that there were 366 deaths registered in Bacolod, or about 2.3 percent of the total number of recorded infections.
Executive director Em Ang of the Emergency Operations Center said that during their meeting yesterday, they were informed by Dr. Rosalie Deocampo, who heads the contact-tracing team, that most of those who succumbed to the disease lately were unvaccinated.
Ang said they are trying their best to continue efforts in lowering the number of Covid cases in Bacolod by accelerating the vaccination drive, on orders of Mayor Evelio Leonardia.
The DOH recently placed Bacolod under Alert Level 3 because its Covid cases were classified to be under moderate to critical risk but has a bed occupancy rate lower than 70 percent.
Ang said that in classifying the risk level of an area, the DOH basis includes active cases, new cases, surge or case clustering, and the healthcare facility utilization rate (HFUR), or the percentage of beds in hospitals occupied by Covid patients.
She said that the problem of Bacolod and other highly-urbanized cities is that the HFUR is high because the hospital bed occupants also include residents from nearby towns and cities.
Ang added that the EOC has its own numbers that sometimes differ from those of the region because they only record Bacolod residents who are utilizing the healthcare facilities of the city and exclude those from out-of-town.
“We are succeeding in our attempt to contain the virus,” Ang said, and attributed this to the city’s contact-tracing efforts and targeted testing.
Leonardia said there is a need to work hard to maintain the city’s current status where there has been a downward trend of Covid cases in the past days from three digits to two-digit infections.
“Despite this, we have prepared our isolation facilities, test kits, and PPEs, especially because there is a Delta variant, and also intensified our border controls,” he said.
Leonardia reiterated that basic health protocols should still be observed and people must never be complacent.*
