Baguio sets up stricter quarantine as Delta hits
>> Saturday, August 28, 2021
CITY HALL BEAT
Aileen
P. Refuerzo
BAGUIO CITY -- The city government is preparing to revert to a stricter quarantine status once its Covid-19 cases rise due to spread of the dreaded Delta variant like how to address casualties.
Mayor Benjamin Magalong said this is an eventuality that the city will have to contend with, in face of expected dire and prolonged effects of the more contagious and virulent variant.
“Eventually, we will have to adapt a stricter quarantine status. Our economy will suffer but it is imperative that we enforce stricter measures to contain the spread of the virus,” he said.
He said border restrictions to non-essential travels will have to be extended as it is vital to restrict the movement of people and deter the spread of the virus.
“We will continue our strict entry rules for as long as necessary because judging from the experience of other countries that had bouts with the Delta variant, it will take more than two months to have a downward trend in cases,” he said.
Also part of the preparations are the revival of the scheduling or market pass system and the rolling store and market-to-home delivery schemes.
Coordination is now being done with the concerned agencies and offices on this end.
He said the city government had been doing its best to prepare on all fronts including up enhancing isolation centers, hospital logistics, medicine and oxygen reserves and intensification of the disinfection, testing, contact tracing, isolation, lockdown and vaccination programs. even as he urged residents to do their part by adhering to the public heart standards.
On the part of the constituents, the mayor reiterated his appeal for cooperation in adhering to the minimum public health standards whether inside or outside their homes.
“Wear double face masks and face shield, observe physical distancing, proper hygiene and hand washing, avoid crowded and enclosed spaces, ensure proper ventilation, disinfection and get vaccinated when it’s your turn,” he said.
Government and private establishments were advised to intensify implementation of the public and social health protocols like wearing of double masks, observance of physical distancing among their employees and customers, regular disinfection, ensuring proper ventilation and avoiding crowding and lingering in confined spaces and eating in groups.
Medical experts had warned that unlike the original Covid-19 strain, the Delta variant has the capacity to infect a person in seconds and to linger more in the air.
Its infectivity rate was even likened to that of chicken pox.
Positive patients are also said to become highly contagious in a shorter time and even if they are asymptomatic because the Delta can cause high amount of viral load.
Also unlike the original strain and most of the other variants, its initial symptoms are mild but once it gets into a person’s system, it can attack the organs with severity so that an infected person will instantly experience difficulty in breathing.
Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center Medical Director Dr. Ricardo Ruñez however cautioned that the Delta variant’s behavior is dynamic and its manifestations differ from one case to another.
***
The threat of the Delta variant has prompted the city government to evaluate the city’s capacity to manage potential casualties of the more virulent variant of Covid-19.
Mayor Magalong earlier tasked concerned departments to make an inventory of the capacity of the crematoriums as well as available spaces at the city cemetery as part of the contingency measures for the new variant.
The mayor said it is a proactive move following reports on some countries battling the Delta variant experiencing difficulties in managing their casualties and on a local city having a hard time coping with the arriving cadavers of Covid-19 fatalities.
In the management committee meeting Aug. 11, Acting City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Officer Antonette Anaban reported that the two crematoriums operating in the city can undertake up to six cremation processes per day.
The mayor said the city fast-tracked the permit application of another company to augment the city’s capacity to 18 processes per day.
As to the city cemetery, City Environment and Parks Management Officer Rhenan Diwas said the city has a shortage of tomb spaces.
He presented short, medium and long-term plans to the mayor including the continuation of the reclamation of vacant lots and tombs as a short-term solution.
He said a previous inventory showed only 12 available tombs but these are easily used up.
Another short-term solution would be to limit incoming burials to paupers while those with financial capability will be encouraged to avail of private cemeteries or crematoriums.
Medium-term plans would be to set up a city crematorium for future burials for paupers and build a crypt bone structure for remains beyond five years to give way to new burials while for the long-term, a city team will review the sustainable public cemetery master plan for updating and finding of ways and means for implementation.
BAGUIO CITY -- The city government is preparing to revert to a stricter quarantine status once its Covid-19 cases rise due to spread of the dreaded Delta variant like how to address casualties.
Mayor Benjamin Magalong said this is an eventuality that the city will have to contend with, in face of expected dire and prolonged effects of the more contagious and virulent variant.
“Eventually, we will have to adapt a stricter quarantine status. Our economy will suffer but it is imperative that we enforce stricter measures to contain the spread of the virus,” he said.
He said border restrictions to non-essential travels will have to be extended as it is vital to restrict the movement of people and deter the spread of the virus.
“We will continue our strict entry rules for as long as necessary because judging from the experience of other countries that had bouts with the Delta variant, it will take more than two months to have a downward trend in cases,” he said.
Also part of the preparations are the revival of the scheduling or market pass system and the rolling store and market-to-home delivery schemes.
Coordination is now being done with the concerned agencies and offices on this end.
He said the city government had been doing its best to prepare on all fronts including up enhancing isolation centers, hospital logistics, medicine and oxygen reserves and intensification of the disinfection, testing, contact tracing, isolation, lockdown and vaccination programs. even as he urged residents to do their part by adhering to the public heart standards.
On the part of the constituents, the mayor reiterated his appeal for cooperation in adhering to the minimum public health standards whether inside or outside their homes.
“Wear double face masks and face shield, observe physical distancing, proper hygiene and hand washing, avoid crowded and enclosed spaces, ensure proper ventilation, disinfection and get vaccinated when it’s your turn,” he said.
Government and private establishments were advised to intensify implementation of the public and social health protocols like wearing of double masks, observance of physical distancing among their employees and customers, regular disinfection, ensuring proper ventilation and avoiding crowding and lingering in confined spaces and eating in groups.
Medical experts had warned that unlike the original Covid-19 strain, the Delta variant has the capacity to infect a person in seconds and to linger more in the air.
Its infectivity rate was even likened to that of chicken pox.
Positive patients are also said to become highly contagious in a shorter time and even if they are asymptomatic because the Delta can cause high amount of viral load.
Also unlike the original strain and most of the other variants, its initial symptoms are mild but once it gets into a person’s system, it can attack the organs with severity so that an infected person will instantly experience difficulty in breathing.
Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center Medical Director Dr. Ricardo Ruñez however cautioned that the Delta variant’s behavior is dynamic and its manifestations differ from one case to another.
***
The threat of the Delta variant has prompted the city government to evaluate the city’s capacity to manage potential casualties of the more virulent variant of Covid-19.
Mayor Magalong earlier tasked concerned departments to make an inventory of the capacity of the crematoriums as well as available spaces at the city cemetery as part of the contingency measures for the new variant.
The mayor said it is a proactive move following reports on some countries battling the Delta variant experiencing difficulties in managing their casualties and on a local city having a hard time coping with the arriving cadavers of Covid-19 fatalities.
In the management committee meeting Aug. 11, Acting City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Officer Antonette Anaban reported that the two crematoriums operating in the city can undertake up to six cremation processes per day.
The mayor said the city fast-tracked the permit application of another company to augment the city’s capacity to 18 processes per day.
As to the city cemetery, City Environment and Parks Management Officer Rhenan Diwas said the city has a shortage of tomb spaces.
He presented short, medium and long-term plans to the mayor including the continuation of the reclamation of vacant lots and tombs as a short-term solution.
He said a previous inventory showed only 12 available tombs but these are easily used up.
Another short-term solution would be to limit incoming burials to paupers while those with financial capability will be encouraged to avail of private cemeteries or crematoriums.
Medium-term plans would be to set up a city crematorium for future burials for paupers and build a crypt bone structure for remains beyond five years to give way to new burials while for the long-term, a city team will review the sustainable public cemetery master plan for updating and finding of ways and means for implementation.
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