UP prof says Baguio COVID-19 measures keeping cases under control

CITY HALL BEAT

Aileen P. Refuerzo

BAGUIO CITY – This summer capital’s Covid-19 control measures are so far succeeding in keeping cases under control, a University of the Philippines Baguio statistician said.
    Prof. Rizavel Addawe of the UPB Department of Mathematics and Computer Science told the Baguio City Inter-Agency Task Force led by Mayor Benjamin Magalong last Sept. 11 that the well-placed measures like the sustained expanded testing had been instrumental in preventing cases from rising at an exponential rate.
    Addawe and her group who have been helping the City Health Services Office map out and interpret COVID-19 data said UPB COVID-19 study in April projected the city's cases to hit 35 cases a day or a total of 2,258 by September 10 if no interventions such as lockdown and pro-active testing are done.
    In actuality, the city has posted a total of 415 cases as of September 10. Hence, the city has avoided about 1,843 prospective cases because control measures were put in place.
    Addawe said the city's present case growth rate is about 20 percent every two weeks and if this keeps, then the total number of positive cases is expected to double by December or even more if the city further increases its expanded testing and contact tracing programs.
    She qualified that having increased cases or higher positivity rates is not a bad sign but on the contrary is a good indication that the expanded testing program has been effective in locating those who are infected.
    "When we get more positive cases, it is better because we are testing the right people and that we were able to capture those who are infected and that is a good indication that we are doing well in our testing," she said.    
    She added that because the city captures or locates the carriers, it can immediately implement control measures and thus prevents further spread of the virus to more people.
    Dept. of Health Asst. Regional Director Amelita Pangilinan for her part said the city has been compliant with all the COVID-19 program parameters of prevention, detection, isolation, treatment, integration and zoning containment with all its programs and systems set up proactively by the local government.
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Mayor Benjamin Magalong has emphasized the importance of learning to co-exist with the Covid-19 for people and the economy to move on.
    “Covid-19 will never go away hence we need to co-exist with it, we need to learn how to live with it, how to function with it and how to do business with it in our midst,” the mayor said in his address during the flag raising rites attended by Caloocan City Mayor Oscar Malapitan Sept. 14.
    He said adapting the “new way of life demanded by the times” is necessary if people want to rise from and refuse to be cowed by the health crisis that had distorted the normal way of life and crippled livelihoods of many Filipinos.
Baguio City, he said, will test the waters of the new normal by reopening its tourism industry.
    “On September 22, we are going to open up our economy, there is no way we are going to be held hostage by this crisis.  We cannot just sit down and lock ourselves from our neighbors so we are determined to open up our tourism industry,” the mayor said.
    He however acknowledged that the “challenge before us is huge and daunting.”
    “But first things first, let us not go back to what we were before.  More than anything, we must accept and adapt to the new normal. There is no turning back to where we started and to build back Baguio in far better ways more so in extraordinary times.”
    The mayor said the decision to reopen the tourism industry is necessary to restore the city’s economy and livelihood of the residents.
    “Marami na pong naghihirap, maraming na rin pong nade-depress,” he said citing the rising number of suicide cases and depression due to economic problems brought by the pandemic.
     He however reiterated that the tourism venture will be done slowly, safely and surely without sacrificing the health and safety of residents and tourists which will remain the top priority of the city.