Bacayan subdivision needs intervention for slight rise in COVID cases — Garganera

In this May 2020 photo, officials of Barangay Bacayan and the Cebu City government led by Councilors Dave Tumulak and Joel Garganera inspect the Bacayan Elementary School as an isolation center. | Photos courtesy of Barangay Bacayan

CEBU CITY, Philippines — A private subdivision in Barangay Bacayan, a mountain barangay in Cebu City, is currently the focus of attention of the Cebu City Emergency Operations Center (EOC) as a rise in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases is being recorded in the area.

According to Councilor Joel Garganera, czar of the EOC, there are 16 cases in that private subdivision in the last 14 days, and the subdivision recorded at least one new case per day in the last 8 days.

The EOC has already met with the Barangay Bacayan officials and the Talamban Police Station, which holds jurisdiction in the area, to discuss what interventions they could do to control the spread of the virus.

“We took notice in the rise in cases because it is concentrated in one area. Bacayan does not have the most number of active cases, but it recorded 16 cases in one village,” said Garganera.

The EOC is mulling to place the subdivision under a lockdown or a granular lockdown, but the final decision will be set on Friday, September 4, 2020.

Garganera said that only 60 percent of the residents in the particular subdivision were compliant with the health protocols.

The residents may have become lenient because the area is residential and private, and so they can easily go out of their homes as long as they stay in the subdivision.

Still, the COVID-19 has found entry into the residential area, and there is a need for a hard intervention should the city want to prevent another increase in the cases.

The EOC wants to prevent another outbreak similar to that in Barrio Luz and Barangay Mambaling in the early months of the pandemic.

The EOC is set to announce the fate of the subdivision in Bacayan tomorrow./dbs