Cebu City’s daily average COVID-19 cases reaches 14 in mid-November

FILE — A woman gets a swab test for the new coronavirus at Santa Ana Hospital in Manila on Tuesday.—RICHARD A. REYES

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The daily average number of new Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in Cebu City has reached 14.15 as of November 19, 2020, which is double the average number of new cases per day in the entire October 2020.

The Cebu City Emergency Operations Center (EOC) revealed that for the month of October 2020, the average daily new cases were only at 7.38, with only single-digit cases per day recorded at that time.

A sudden spike of cases was recorded in the second week of November, with the most number of cases recorded last November 14, 2020, prompting the city to put up additional measures along its borders to restrict entry.

The majority of the new cases were still due to outside transmission, health officials said, which accounted for 87 percent of the total number of cases in the past fourteen days.

Of all outside COVID-19 transmission, the workplace has been the cause for at least 21.46 percent of the cases, followed by exposure to previous positive cases at 12 percent, and supermarkets at 8 percent.

Despite the rise in cases, the critical care utilization rate among hospitals in the city remains low.

Of the 125 critical care facilities in Cebu City, only 93 are occupied, for an occupancy rate of 42.7 percent. The bed occupancy rate is even lower at 8.9 percent, with more than 300 COIVD-19 dedicated beds waiting for patients.

Councilor Joel Garganera, the deputy chief implementor of the EOC, said workers need to be extra-vigilant when being outside.

“We have to be mindful sad, kaning mga trabahante once gani on the weekend, and then moattend silag party and big gatherings, the transmission is there. At the end of the day, ig balik nilas trabaho, matransmit gyod na.”

“What I’m trying to say is that they need to be mindful of their health protocols not only during office hours in the workplace, but all throughout even when not working,” said Garganera.

To reduce the incidents of workplace transmission, the workers have to proactively cooperate with the health guidelines as they are the only ones who can protect themselves in the workplace.

Currently, Cebu City has 330 active cases with 25 new cases recorded on November 19, 2020. The EOC hopes for the public’s cooperation to reduce transmissions by complying with standard health protocols. /rcg