Baguio Covid-19 deaths now 1 to 2 deaths per day

CITY HALL BEAT

Aileen P. Refuerzo

BAGUIO CITY -- The city management committee (MANCOM) led by Mayor Benjamin Magalong in its recent weekly meeting tackled Covid-19 developments and countermeasures being carried out to address the current spike in cases believed to be caused by the Delta variant.
    City Health Services Officer Dr. Rowena Galpo reported that the number of active cases has doubled in the last two weeks with an average of 1-2 deaths per day.
    The city posted a single day high number of cases at 205 last Sept. 5.  Its highest on record was 227 logged on April 2, 2021.
    Positivity rate hiked in the last four weeks from 7.4 percent in the first week of August to 14.04 percent in the first week of this month.  In the past two weeks, it was pegged at 15.77 percent.
    The city's risk classification has been elevated to Alert Level 4 or high to critical level because of its increased Average Daily Attack Rate (ADAR), Two-Week Growth Rate (TWGR) and Critical Care Utilization Rate (CCUR).
Mayor Magalong said this was not surprising as they had anticipated the surge to happen because of the Delta variant.
     As a response, the city is carrying out the following measures:
    *Addressing the overwhelmed health care system by increasing and upgrading stepdown and isolation facilities, allowing home isolation for specific patients and augmenting manpower of hospitals;
    *Continuing active case detection.  Barangay Health Emergency Teams (BHERTs) to locate and monitor symptomatic patients;
    *Continuing genome sequencing and securing samples from priority areas;
    *Sustaining aggressive community testing and antigen testing in areas with Delta cases. The average daily tests done for the last two weeks was 679.  It has done a total of 239,354 tests and has tested 150,074 individuals or 40.07 percent of the population.
    The city also set up fixed testing sites at the Baguio Convention Center and the different district health centers exclusively for close contacts of positive cases, whether symptomatic or not.  Those who have access to private vehicles can drive by to have themselves tested.  But home swab tests will continue to be done for close contacts who have mobility issues or have no access to private transport.
    *Sustaining quality of treatment by immediately adding or converting ICU beds and equipment and prioritizing active cases. Hospitals in the city have stopped accepting non-Covid-19 and elective surgery cases and expressed willingness to expand if not for lack of manpower.  The city stepped in by hiring 30 nurses to be assigned to them.
    City also upgraded its stepdown facilities to accommodate moderate but stable patients.  It had sought the assistance of the Baguio-Benguet Medical Society and other specialty groups to help in the management of patients.
    *On its vaccination efforts, the city is now working on reprioritizing vaccine deployment to hasten vaccination in areas with increasing cases.
    As a proactive measure against the Delta variant, the city readied a contingency plan using the Dept. of Health's Four-Door Strategy where controls are put into place at the point of origin through travel bans and restrictions; at points of entry through screening, quarantine and testing; at points of care by implementing the Prevent-Detect-Isolate-Treat-Reintegrate strategy; and management of an epidemic surge through strict community health protocols.
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More than 160 contact tracers underwent training last Sept. 8 to enhance their skills and capacity amid the increasing number of Covid-19 cases in the city.
    Mayor Magalong emphasized the need for contact tracers to step up and respond to the call for more efficient and effective contact tracing efforts to help save lives amid the raging pandemic.
    The participants were the 70 newly hired and rehired contact tracers from the Dept. of Interior and Local Government and augmentation personnel from the Baguio City Police Office, Philippine Military Academy and partner business process outsourcing (BPO) companies.
    The training consisted of three modules facilitated by members of the city’s lead contact tracing teams.
    Module 1 facilitated by City Epidemiologist Dr. Donna Panes of the City Health Services Office centered on the rudiments of the Covid-19 while module 2 dealt on the retooled contact tracing system as discussed by data analyst Mischelle Junio.
    Module 3 tackled the contact tracing processes as follows: legal aspects of contact tracing by City Mayor’s Office Executive Asst. IV Althea Alberto; Case Investigation Form by Medical Technologist II Ruby Magsino of the CHSO; the contact tracing process flow; EndCov Tracker and Analytical Tools by data analysts Jefferson Damoslog and Shanry Roberts; isolation process by Dr. Alice Torres of CHSO and decontamination and management of the dead.