ILOILO City – To further increase the vaccination coverage against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the city government plans to have “drive thru” inoculations.
“This scheme also lessens the contact between vaccinators and vaccinees,” said Mayor Jerry Treñas.
Negotiations are ongoing between the city government and two malls, he said without naming the establishments.
“Once an agreement is reached, we will announce the sites,” said Treñas.
The mayor hopes more unvaccinated people, especially the eligible but hesitant, would muster the courage to take the jab, citing the presence of the more transmissible Omicron variant of the virus causing COVID-19 in the city.
“Ginatinguhaan ta gid, especially subong nga kadasig gid sang infecton. Nagapasalamat ako nga ang vaccinated kag naka-booster indi matam-an. Kon vaccinated ka, daku ang imo proteksyon,” said Treñas.
According to the City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (CESU) of the City Health Office, five out of six deaths here due to COVID-19 between Jan. 1 and 24 were unvaccinated against the viral disease.
Treñas said the city may be placed under Alert Level 4 from Alert Level 3 if COVID-19 cases will continue to rise.
Alert Level 4 is the second highest in the COVID-19 Alert Level System of the Inter-Agency Task Force of the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID).
It is declared in areas where case counts are high and/or increasing, with total bed utilization rate and intensive care unit (ICU) utilization rate at high utilization.
According to Treñas, the bed and ICU utilization rate in the city already exceeded 70 percent.
COVID-19 infections, however, continue to rise. Just this Saturday, Jan. 22, Iloilo City recorded 635 new cases, the highest in Western Visayas.
Data from the CESU from Jan. 1 to 22 showed the metro recording 4,223 cases. Of these cases, 2,382 were recorded in just five days from Jan. 18 to 22.
“I am very sad. While we have done our best to ramp up the vaccination and boosters for everyone, cases continue to go up and our healthcare utilization rate is also going up,” said Treñas, referring to the number of COVID-19 rooms and ICU beds occupied by patients.
“We are now on the brink of being placed on Alert Level 4,” said Treñas./PN