CCHD won’t include sitios in reporting COVID cases
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu City Health Department (CCHD) will not be reporting the specific sitios of new cases in the city’s barangays to avoid confusion.
Many netizens have been asking for details from the CCHD’s Facebook page on the specific sitios that the new cases were recorded, and they said that this would help “reduce fear among the residents of the affected barangays.”
However, the CCHD said that publishing the specific sitios would only encourage residents from other sitios to be lenient in their practice of health measures and quarantine restrictions.
“We may cause unnecessary panic and stigma on sitios and barangays severely affected. We have seen how discrimination works against infected individuals. Also, data and patient privacy is the biggest concern. That is our greatest responsibility as health care workers,” said CCHD.
The verification of the patient’s residence is also another issue for the CCDH if they reveal the sitios of the positive cases.
The city’s health office said that many cases were initially recorded in one sitio, but the patient was actually residing in another.
To avoid these confusions, the CCHD has decided not to include the sitios in their daily reporting.
“For specific reports and data needed, you may send a formal letter requesting for the data you wish to know. By then, we will immediately oblige,” said the CCHD.
Even though the CCHD will not report the specific sitios themselves, the barangays are provided with such information.
Certain barangays such as Barangays Tisa, Labangon, Guadalupe, and Basak San Nicolas post the specific sitios affected on their own capacity or on their Facebook pages.
Other barangays do not publish the specific sitios specifying the same reason as the CCHD. The release of this specific information is up to the barangay chiefs.
The CCHD encourages the residents to check in with their barangays for the specific information of positive cases, or formally ask for the data in their office./dbs
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