Positivity rate of Cebu City goes down to 4.1% — Feliciano

Major General Melquiades Feliciano, the Deputy Chief Implementor of IATF in Cebu, speaks during an online presser on Wednesday, July 8, 2020. | Screenshot of the live video from PRO-7

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City’s coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases continue to go down in the past few weeks with only 1,270 active cases left of its total 9,419 cases.

Retired General Melquiades Feliciano, deputy chief implementor of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) in the Visayas, said the positivity rate had dropped to a mere 4.1 percent as of August 14, 2020.

The positivity rate is based on the number of positive results in comparison to the number of samples tested.

Feliciano attributed this drop to the institutionalization of the clustered efforts from the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to the barangays in dealing with positive and probable COVID-19 cases.

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These are the intensified contact tracing, household, and granular lockdowns upon swabbing of the subject patient, clustered isolation of the patients based on the symptoms, and the increased monitoring in the barangays.

“It is really a joint effort. But in the past six days, we noticed that the transmission has shifted to the workplaces,” said the retired general.

With the opening of some businesses, it was natural and expected that the transmission would also shift to these areas where more people could gather.

This is why Feliciano met with the business owners and the Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB) to discuss how the spread could be controlled at the workplaces and in the public or private shuttles that employees would use to travel.

He said that even the private shuttle used by companies could be a source of transmission for the workers.

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With this, workers must wear masks and face shields when traveling even in private shuttles. Face shields are already required in public transportation.

“You should wear your face mask. You are even discouraged to eat, drink, or talk on the phone while on transit in the shuttle,” said Cebu City Councilor Joel Garganera, the deputy chief implementor of the EOC in Cebu City.

Garganera said that the Cebu City Transporation Office (CCTO) would already monitor even these private shuttles to check if the passengers were following the health protocols.

Feliciano said that the Business Processing and Licensing Office (BPLO) was already monitoring various establishments in the city in case there would be a community transmission among the workers.

Should there be a positive case in the establishment, it must be reported immediately and closed down for disinfection and contact tracing. /dbs