Pangasinan IATF seeks lockdown of 7 towns, city

By  Eva Visperas

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan — The Pangasinan inter-agency task force on Covid-19 (IATF) has recommended the lockdown of seven towns and a city in the province for two weeks.

    Calasiao, Lingayen, Bugallon, Sison, Villasis, Pozorrubio, Aguilar and Urdaneta City “have crossed the critical zone” of Covid-19 cases, provincial health officer Anna Ma. Teresa de Guzman said Wednessday.

    As ordered by Gov. Amado Espino III, De Guzman said he talked with concerned municipal and city health offices regarding barangays where there is clustering of cases and urged them to discuss the imposition of lockdowns with their mayors.

    “Based on the omnibus guidelines of the National IATF, if you have 25 percent of your barangays under critical zone due to clustered cases... you should implement more stringent community quarantine measures,” De Guzman said.

    She cited Pozorrubio, where 14 of the 34 barangays have clustered cases.

    “It means its critical zone is at 41 percent, which is beyond the 25 percent allowed by the national IATF,” De Guzman said.

    She stressed the need for the eight local government units (LGUs) to implement stricter community quarantine, considering that the entire province of Pangasinan, except for Villasis, is under the more relaxed modified general community quarantine (MGCQ).

    De Guzman said they expect concerned LGUs to follow the example of Villasis, which shifted to GCQ due to a spike in infections.

    Calasiao Mayor Joseph Bauzon, in an interview over Aksyon Radyo Pangasinan, said he is amenable to implementing only granular lockdowns. He stressed the need to balance the economy and the health of the people.

    Pangasinan logged 1,784 active cases with 15 deaths on Tuesday.

    Dagupan, a chartered city, recorded 204 active cases.