BY ADRIAN P. NEMES III
The City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit reported that the Covid-19 positivity rate in Bacolod had decreased to 26.65 percent, as of Saturday, but executive director Em Ang of the Emergency Operations Center said they are still on the lookout as cases may increase again.
At the government-run Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital in Bacolod, only 14 confirmed Covid patients are admitted while 35 others are considered Covid-related hospitalizations, the hospital said in a statement.
It added that 83 staff members are currently under isolation for being close contacts with confirmed Covid cases, as of Saturday, and 10 others tested positive for the disease.
Nineteen employees of the Bacolod City Government Center also tested positive over the weekend, and 14 of them are from the Public Information Office and the rest are from the City Mayor’s Office, Ang said.
NO CLOSE CONTACT
She also clarified that none of these employees had close contact with Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia and most of them are asymptomatic.
She said that aside from the BGC personnel, no other city employees tested positive for Covid, and no clustering of cases had been noted, so far.
Ang also slammed the circulation of fake information about the alleged confinement of an individual in a private hospital in Bacolod, who allegedly tested positive for the dreaded Delta variant of the coronavirus disease 2019.
NO DELTA VARIANT IN BACOLOD
She said that no less than Dr. Jane Juanico, infectious disease cluster head of the Department of Health in the Western Visayas, has said that there was no Delta variant in Bacolod.
Ang appealed to the public to stop spreading and circulating this rumor on social media.
Meanwhile, Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran, who heads the local Inter-Agency Task Force, said he is pushing for Authorized Persons Outside of Residence working in government to also undergo swab testing before they are allowed entry to Bacolod.
Currently, government-employed APORs are allowed to enter the city without a swab test, unlike those who are employed by private companies, who are required to submit negative Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction test results taken 72 hours before travel.
Familiaran said that, hopefully, the national IATF will amend its policy on allowing government employed APORs to travel without swabbing as they could be potential carriers of Covid.*