Baguio City Covid- 19 control update

CITY HALL BEAT

Aileen P. Refuerzo

BAGUIO CITY -- The lack of new Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in the city last week indicating  a flat curve does not mean that the fight against the disease has been over and that people can now afford to be complacent.

City Health Officer Dr. Rowena Galpo cautioned that the city may have not seen a new positive case in the last five days (the last being on March 28) but people must not let their guards down but should continue observing COVID-19 control measures to sustain it in the remaining 12 days of the Enhanced Community Quarantine and beyond.

Mayor Benjamin Magalong for his part felt the city had to conduct follow through tracing of contacts to make sure that no one was missed.

"There were gaps before that we are now addressing so we will not be surprised if more cases will turn up," the mayor said.

City Epidemiologist Dr. Donnabel Panes however was optimistic that the contamination had been contained and contacts rounded up at the moment.

Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center Medical Director Ricardo Runez Jr. said Baguio has no clustering of cases as yet.

Magalong said he saw an opportunity “to flatten the curve” when he observed that of the city’s cases were “imported” or originated from other place prompting him to impose a lockdown and work out the enhancement of contract tracing and early detection.

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The city government will continue with its plan to utilize Sto. Nino Hospital to treat Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients even if plans to convert the facility into a dedicated critical care unit for such patients hit a snag. 

Mayor Magalong said efforts to reactivate the hospital will continue this time as an extension facility to attend to dialysis patients who are infected with the virus.

Plans for a critical care unit was trumped by stringent requirements by the national government that will require a long time to process.

City Administrator Bonifacio Dela Peña said that with the outpouring of support from the government and the private sectors, the hospital will be up and running on target on April 14.

He said rooms will just the same be prepared to take in patients should the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center get overwhelmed and run out of beds.

The BGHMC, according to Department of Health Cordillera Officer-in-Charge Amelita Pangilinan has been officially designated as the COVID-19 regional center and as such is obligated to take in patients from other regions.

Magalong said the situation calls for the city to prepare stand by facilities all the more. 

“Even if we in Baguio are capable of controlling our cases, other areas may not and they are bound to come to us and we will not turn them away,” the mayor said.

“It will not be an issue of whether Baguio should only be spending for its constituents.  It is Baguio helping our fellow Filipinos,” the mayor stressed.  

BGHMC Medical Director Ricardo Ruñez said the BGHMC has set in place contingency measures in terms of manpower and logistics in the light of its designation as a regional center.

He said the hospital is committed to continue accepting patients from private hospitals in the city and other regions and did not discount the possibility that it would need additional help including stand by offsite facilities like Sto. Niño. 

The worked hard to set up Sto. Nino from obtaining the consent of the owners to readying the building and facilities to the provision of the organization structure courtesy of various city departments, Dr. Willy Occidental, the St. Louis University Hospital of the Sacred Heart headed by Medical Director Dr. Paul Adlai B. Quitiquit which served as the lead group and private individuals and companies that chipped in to get the building in order and utilities running.

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With 12 days left before the lapse of the Enhanced Community Quarantine status in the country, Baguio City is poised to shift its focus on planning for gradual transition to prepare its different sectors for a post-ECQ scenario amid the continuing Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) contagion.

Mayor Magalong said that based on his personal assessment, the city had basically put in place all the essential systems to address the COVID-19 crisis and that it is ready to move on to post-ECQ plans that the national government will adopt.

The mayor said the city should work on the possibility that the national government will no longer extend the ECQ and will instead move for a modified quarantine status that would allow some sectors to go back to their normal functions to keep the economy afloat and allow  people in certain sectors to go back to work.

The mayor said he will consult with the sectoral groups to solicit ideas with guidance from health experts to come up with guidelines for each sector that would spell out the parameters of their reactivation along with specific protective measures to ensure their safety from the disease.

For city government departments, the mayor asked to prepare for a "gradual transition to our usual functions and mandates but with due consideration to the requisite 'work from home' arrangement."

He said more effort would be exerted on planning for the gradual resurrection of businesses in the tourism industry being the bread and butter of the city's economy.

Another focus will be the resumption of big construction works especially those with perilous excavations that lack slope protection and need to be done before the rainy season so as not to endanger the public.

As to the education sector, the mayor said he is inclined to prolong the suspension of classes noting the risk the exodus of students would entail.

The health team composed of the Department of Health Cordillera under Officer-in-Charge Dr. Amelita Pangilinan and heads of the different hospitals and medical facilities in the city promised to help the city craft the sectoral guidelines with integrated COVID-19 control measures.

The city will meet with the group on April 6 on this development.