Bacolod City – The Negros Occidental chapter of the Philippine College of Physicians is urging the public to go into a voluntary standstill amid the ballooning number of Covid-19 infections in Bacolod City.
PCP Negros chapter president Ronel Sario said that since the city could not afford another Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine, they are calling on residents to limit movements instead to deter the further spread of the disease.
Sario, a pulmonologist, said they are very much alarmed by the current Covid situation in Bacolod.
He said there must be a strong implementation of protocols, including active policing, adding that the public should realize that the Covid situation in Bacolod is worsening.
Sario lamented that, apparently, many people are taking the Covid-19 situation in Bacolod lightly.
In their statement, the PCP Negros Occidental chapter stressed that, with the exponential rise in the daily cases of infections, the hospitals and healthcare system are currently overwhelmed.
The doctors reiterated that people should observe health protocols by allowing air circulation and ventilation, abiding with physical distancing of one meter or more, regular wearing of face masks and shields, and limiting interaction to below 30 minutes.
They added that they witness the sufferings of Covid patients daily and see how they and their family members are crushed by the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic.
Earlier, members of the Philippine Society for Microbiology and Infectious Diseases also expressed alarm over the rising Covid cases in Bacolod.
Mayor Evelio Leonardia has already issued Executive Order No. 31, adjusting the curfew from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. and prohibiting public consumption of liquor as measures to deter the further spread of the disease.
Bacolod is classified a “high risk” area in Western Visayas by the Department of Health Region 6 since the attack rate was recorded at 13.23 per 100,000 population, from May 23 to June 5.
As of June 6, the hospital capacity utilization rate in Bacolod was at 82.46 percent. Eighty percent of the Covid beds were utilized while 92.31 percent of intensive care units for severe cases were already in use, the Emergency Operations Center reported. But the EOC also said the data change on a daily basis.
(Adrian Nemes III via The Visayan Daily Star, photo courtesy of The Daily Guardian)