Mayor wants stricter ECQ for Baguio

CITY HALL BEAT

Aileen P. Refuerzo

BAGUIO CITY -- Mayor Benjamin Magalong wants to place this summer capital under a stricter quarantine status of General Community Quarantine with heightened restrictions to facilitate the implementation of more stringent control measures to manage the surge in Covid-19 cases currently being experienced in the city.
    He said that although the city had tightened some of its quarantine rules since two weeks ago to a degree similar to that imposed under stricter quarantine status, a formal declaration is necessary to enable the city to carry out the restrictions in full force.
    He said he had relayed the request to Dept. of Interior and Local Government Cordillera OIC-Regional Director (RD) Araceli San Jose.
    The mayor said the city now averages more than 890 cases per week and he had reasons to believe that Delta is now the dominant variant in the city based on indicators and circumstances.
     “As I keep on repeating, the worst is yet to come with regards to the Delta variant.  So the best thing apart from the observance the minimum public health standards, is for us to adopt more restrictions,” he said.
    The mayor spearheaded early preparations for the Delta variant as early as July to delay the spread of the more severe and infectious variant which he believes will have greater and longer impact than what the city experienced last March and April believed to be driven by the Alpha and Beta variants.
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This, as the city government continues to find ways to help hospitals whose facilities and manpower are now on critical level due to the surge in Covid-19 cases in the city.
    Mayor Magalong said the city is working on increasing the city government-run stepdown facilities where patients on convalescence and those who have moderate symptoms but are in stable stable condition can be admitted.
    The city will now also allow home isolation for asymptomatic patients provided that they are monitored by the district health centers and the Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams (BHERTs).
    This way, the city can help declog and prevent hospitals from getting further overwhelmed by having them admit only patients who are severe or moderate and unstable, according to the mayor.
    City Health Officer Dr. Rowena Galpo said 24 stepdown units are available at the Baguio City Community Isolation Unit (BCCIU) at the Sto. Niño Hospital and this will be increased in the coming days as the city works out the expansion of the BCCIU to add 150 isolation beds to its current 350 bed capacity.
    Apart from the BCCIU, the city operates five other isolation facilities located at Roxas Hall, Romulo Hall and Magsaysay Hall of the Baguio Teachers’ Camp, Laurel Dorm 2, Central Triage Quarantine Facility at the Baguio Convention Center and Ferionni Apartments. The six units have a an increased total bed capacity from 879 to 920.
    The city is eying Eurotel as augmentation pending renewal of documents even as its continues to scout for additional sites, among which the other halls at Teachers' Camp, for buffer isolation units.
    Apart from addressing the bed shortage in hospitals, the mayor said they are helping augment their manpower as Covid-19 cases among health workers also increase.
    He said the city is working out the hiring of 50 nurses to serve in private hospitals, 30 of whom will be paid by the city government.  The city is waiting for word on its request to the Dept. of Health (DOH) for the hiring of the 20 others to be paid by the national government.
    For the city isolation units, the city had sought the assistance of the Baguio-Benguet Medical Society and other specialty groups to help in the management of patients.
    Galpo said the critical care utilization rate in the different hospitals in the city had reached the critical level as patients continue to increase.
    As of Sept. 6, the five hospitals operating in the city have a total of 414 beds dedicated to Covid-19 patients.  Of the number, 135 serve as isolation, 159 as COVID-19 ward and 81 as intensive care unit (ICU) beds and 39 with ventilators.