DOH-7: Not all hospital deaths are due to COVID-19

Dr. Jaime Bernadas, director of the Department of Health in Central Visayas, debunks reports circulating online, saying that a doctor of a Cebu City-based hospital died due to the COVID-19. Bernadas said their office has contacted all hospitals in the city and none reported of deaths related to the disease. | CDN Digital photo | Morexette Marie B. Erram

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The continuing increase of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in the country does not necessarily mean that all deaths reported in hospitals are caused by the viral infection, said Dr. Jaime Bernadas, director of the Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7).

In a press conference on Tuesday, March 24, 2020, Bernadas cautioned the public against making premature conclusions that recent deaths reported in hospitals are COVID-19 related because this could cause unnecessary panic.

“Dili tanang mahitabo sa atong mga hospital nga mamatay, moingon dayon mo nga namatay sa COVID. Palihug lang kay magpadagan tag alarma nga di makaayo sa atong kaigsuonan,” Bernadas said.

(Not all hospital deaths are COVID-19 related. Please refrain from sharing this kind of misinformation so as no to alarm our fellow Cebuanos.)

Even the deaths of patients under investigations (PUIs), Bernadas said, cannot be tagged as directly caused by COVID-19 infection especially since these individuals have pre-existing conditions.

At present, Bernadas said that there were already four PUIs in the region who died.  All of whom, however, were immunocompromised or have several health conditions other than their respiratory illnesses.

The first patient, according to the DOH-7 data, was diagnosed with community-acquired pneumonia, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and pulmonary tuberculosis. The patient, who was a senior citizen, was also found to have diabetes and electrolyte imbalance.

“Kumplikado ang iyang sakit [pero] gikuhaan gihapon nato og swab kay lagi, duna man siyay respiratory symptoms,” Bernadas said.

(His condition was very complicated but we still opted to take swab samples because the patient manifested respiratory symptoms.)

The second PUI, also a senior citizen, had a cough and was admitted to a hospital after he passed out. His final diagnosis was sudden cardiac death. Swabs samples were also taken from the patient because of his cough.

The third patient, a 40-year-old man, also had multiple health conditions including sepsis, tuberculous, and arthritis.

The fourth patient, Bernadas said, had asthma which complicated into status asthmaticus, a condition where over-the-counter medicines would already have zero to less effect on him.

Bernadas said the laboratory tests of two of the four PUIs showed that they are negative of COVID-19.

Even if the tests on the two remaining PUIs will show positive results, Bernadas said it is still not conclusive that COVID-19 was the cause of their death because of the complications. / dcb