BACOLOD City – Cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in this city are still on the rise.
Data from the Department of Health (DOH) in Region 6 as of yesterday showed Bacolod with 2,035 active cases, of the total 19,964 recorded since last year.
The Emergency Operations Center Task Force (EOC-TC) was suspicious. It said the spike in COVID-19 infections in Bacolod began with the onset of the voters’ registration.
“Is it just a coincidence?” asked Em Ang, executive director of EOC.
Two months ago, according to Ang, coronavirus cases in Bacolod “slowed down”.
“Infections (were) averaging everyday only between 20 and 30,” Ang said.
However, as of Sept. 29, “we were breaching the 100-mark daily and rising,” she said.
DAILY ‘HAKOT’
EOC feared that the Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) voters’ registration became a “super spreader” event.
According to Ang, in the past two weeks there were “daily hakot’ registrants” from out-of-town being unloaded from trucks, buses and ambulances and Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office vehicles of different Negros local government units (LGUs) at the University of Saint La Salle (USLS) grounds and Ayala Malls.
“I am very vocal about this because it is the city and the people of Bacolod who are most affected,” she said.
She also pointed out that Bacolod is being surrounded by LGUs with higher COVID cases.
“I have seen the daily records; I have seen the data analysis of the EOC. It is very alarming. I get stressed everyday looking at the data,” she added.
DOH records showed, as of Sept. 28, that the vaccination rate of Negros Occidental was only at 13 percent as against the Bacolod’s 50 plus percent, Ang emphasized.
The EOC official was also “alarmed” by the voters’ registration extension until Oct. 31.
“COVID cases in Bacolod may turn for the worse,” she said.
VIOLATORS
Ang also cited reports from law enforcement agencies that several out-of-towners “violated” the city’s 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. curfew.
They mass up at registration sites as early as 12 midnight or 1 a.m., said Ang.
Based on the record of the Task Force Disiplina (from Sept. 27 to 30), a total of 149 individuals were apprehended.
Ang also cited photos and video footages forwarded by concerned netizens showing several out-of-towners remiss of the minimum health protocols, particularly the wearing of facemasks and physical distancing.
“I even doubt if Comelec even has thermal scanners to check on body temperatures,” Ang said./PN