Bacolod City – The Emergency Operations Center has recommended the closure of 18 out of 20 school-based quarantine facilities in Bacolod City with the continuing decline in the number of COVID-19 cases in the city.
EOC executive director Em Ang yesterday said the Department of Education notified them that the schools will be used as polling places during the May national and local elections upon the request of the Commission on Elections.
The DepEd also has a proposal to resume face-to-face classes with de-escalation of Bacolod City to Alert Level 1, she said.
Ang said the only remaining quarantine centers in Bacolod are the Education and Training Center School lV and the Graciano Lopez Jaena Elementary School which is equipped to accommodate pregnant women and those who have given birth.
As of yesterday, there are no patients being isolated in the quarantine centers but there are 24 under home isolation who are being monitored by the Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams (BHERTS), she said.
In order to qualify for home isolation, the patient must be asymptomatic or mild asymptomatic, his/her household must be fully vaccinated, and they should have separate room and bathroom, Ang said.
The average hospitalization rate for both private and government hospitals in Bacolod is about 39 percent. As of yesterday, there were only 27 patients in the hospitals and 24 under home isolation, she said.
Ang said that aside from the two school-based quarantine facilities on standby, the city has customized the evacuation center in Progreso Village, Vista Alegre as a quarantine facility in case there is a need for one. They will turn over to DepEd the other school-based quarantine centers, including whatever improvements made by the city, she added. (Chrysee Semillano via The Visayan Daily Star (TVDS), photo courtesy of TVDS)
