BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Negros Occidental and the highly-urbanized city of Bacolod remained under Alert Level 4 as the two local government units continue to battle increasing number of COVID-19 cases, for almost two months now.
This also developed as the provincial government of Negros Occidental yesterday received 116,360 doses of Pfizer vaccine, of which 18,720 have been earmarked for Bacolod City, from the national government, as both LGUs race against the spread of virus with their vaccination activities to achieve the targeted 70 percent herd immunity.
In a virtual presser, Dr. Daphynie Teorima, of the Department of Health- Western Visayas Center for Health and Development, reported yesterday that the health care utilization rate of both LGUs have been also classified as “high risk”, with 74.87 percent utilization for Negros Occidental and 77.81 percent for Bacolod City, as of October 3.
Most hospitals in Negros Occidental, especially in Bacolod City, already declared that they have reached the maximum limit of bed capacities intended for COVID-19 patients.
The average daily attack rate (ADAR) of Negros Occidental and Bacolod City for every 100,000 population was 9.86 percent and 21.32 percent, respectively, with two-week growth rate of 31 percent for the province and 15 percent for the city, Teorima said.
The COVID-19 mortality rate of Negros Occidental was 1.91 percent, with Bacolod at 2.34 percent, both slightly higher than the national level of 1.50 percent, DOH-WV-CHD records show.
On October 3 alone, the Provincial Incident Management Team recorded 47 deaths in Negros Occidental, as COVID-19 active cases further increased to 4,051.*
