Mayor to symptomatic persons: Protect your family, friends / Preparing for Delta Variant

 CITY HALL BEAT

Aileen P. Refuerzo

BAGUIO CITY -- Mayor Benjamin Magalong reminded Baguio residents experiencing symptoms of Covid-19 to observe precautionary measures to avoid passing on the virus to family members and friends.
    As“If we are experiencing the known symptoms of Covid, like colds, fever, itchy or painful throat, diarrhea, loss of smell and/or taste, we must be responsible enough to protect our family, friends, workmates and others around us from getting infected,” he said.
    He said a symptomatic person must immediately quarantine himself by staying in a separate room or space and observing the basic preventive measures like wearing face masks, observing personal hygiene, disinfection, physical distancing and ensuring proper ventilation.
    “Avoid eating with family members and sharing utensils,” he advised.
    If going out of residence cannot be helped, then one must avoid crowd, wear mask and shield, observe physical distancing, avoid confined spaces and close contact conversations.
    At the first signs and symptoms, call or see a doctor, avail of telemedicine services or seek assistance at district health centers through the following hotlines:
     Asin district health center -- 620-4798; Atab – 420-9087; Atok Trail – 620-5395; Scout Barrio – 442-4512; Aurora Hill – 665-7772; Campo Filipino – 442-0031; City Camp – 665-2902; Engineers’ Hill – 442-0100; Irisan – 442-0102; Loakan – 665-8761; Lucban – 300-6065; Mines View – 665-8702; Pacdal – 665-8104; Pinsao – 665-7806; Quezon Hill – 620-5469; and Quirino – 620-5338 or through the COVID-19 hotllines: City Health Services -- 09167974397, 09184880195; City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office – 442-1900-05, 09063702290, 09184880195.
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Mayor Magalong sought an inventory and restocking of medical supplies in the city in preparation for the more severe and more contagious variants of Covid-19 particularly the Delta and Lambda variants.
    The mayor said ensuring that the city will have enough reserve of medical apparatus including the crucial oxygen and oxygen tanks and medicines in its hospitals is part of proactive measures in case hospitalization increases because of the more severe and more transmissible nature of the new variants.
    “We watched how people desperately lined up for oxygen in India and other countries.  We must not wait for it to happen in our city.  We have to learn from their experiences and we have to act for us to save lives,” the mayor said.
    The mayor said he had advised the medical community to stock up on these necessities ahead of time.
In the recent management committee (ManCom) meeting, he instructed the City Health Services Office to do an inventory of available supplies not only in hospitals but also in the private sector.
    He issued an appeal to private groups and individuals who own oxygen tanks and oxygenerators and who are willing to lend these to the city government should the situation to enlist their equipment with the CHSO.

He also urged the CHSO to work out the procurement of oxygenerators and to establish linkage with suppliers where the city can immediately procure such medical needs when needed.

“We have to have a sense of urgency in these crucial times,” he stressed.

While there was still no Delta or Lambda variants detected in the country, the mayor refused to rest easy pointing out the limited capability of the country in processing specimens coupled with the lack of reagents and ancillary supplies.

The city mapped out strategies against the new variants including setting up more isolation facilities and beds in anticipation of increased hospitalizations due to the new variant’s propensity to cause more severe symptoms; expediting vaccination, intensifying compliance to the minimum public health standards, among others.

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Despite the lag in vaccine supply, Baguio City continues to beef up its vaccination capability to be prepared to expedite the program once vaccine supply and production issues got resolved.

Mayor Magalong said the city aims to expand its vaccination schedule, put up more sites to reach as many target population, assign and train more personnel to man these sites and to further streamline the process to cut down the vaccination time.

He said the city will increase its vaccination target from 70 percent to 95 percent to really establish herd immunity.

As of now, the City Health Services Office (CHSO) also upgraded the target from 70 percent to 85 percent pegging the total target population now at 238,776 individuals from the previous 196,639.

This is computed from the city’s estimated total population of 374,550 less persons below 18 years old at 25 percent.

Assistant City Health Officer Dr. Celia Flor Brillantes to the Management Committee (ManCom) last July 13 that vaccination schedule had been expanded to cover all days of the week at the five mega sites at the St. Louis University, University of Baguio, St. Louis School Inc. at St. Vincent, SM City Baguio and the Baguio Country Club.

She said more vaccination sites will be set up in the coming days including district and satellite ones to reach as many target population.

To prepare for this, the City Health Services Office headed by Dr. Rowena Galpo had been training volunteers from both the government and the private sector to man the sites.

Brillantes said they also continue to review and readjust the vaccination process to further speed up the procedures and increase vaccination coverage.

The mayor earlier ordered the ramping up of the city’s vaccination rate to counter the anticipated surges in Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases due to increased mobility, reopening to tourists and the threat of the more harmful variants but the lack of vaccines had snagged said plans prompting the mayor to appeal for more patience from residents raring to be vaccinated.