Workers make up 70% of 300 cases in Mandaue in January — EOC exec

Lawyer Lizer Malate, head of Mandaue City’s Emergency Operations Center, says that working class or workers people make up most of the 321 active cases of the city in January 2021. | Mary Rose Sagarino #CDN Digital

MANDAUE CITY, CEBU, Philippines — Working class people or workers, whose ages are from 20 to 40 years old, make up 70 to 80 percent of the at least 300 coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in January 2021 in Mandaue City.

Lawyer Lizer Malate, head of the city’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC), said that this was based on the city’s demographics of COVID-19 cases last month.

This would mean that workers made up at least 200 out of the at least 300 active cases in Mandaue City in January 2021.

According to data from the Department of Health (DOH), there were 321 active cases in Mandaue City in January 2021.

The DOH said that as of Jan. 31, 2021 the total number of active cases in the city was 343, which is a big increase from the recorded active cases of the city in December 2020 which was 22 cases only.

With this, he said, the city had also recorded a 6.07 percent positivity rate of COVID-19 cases for January 2021.

The city’s posivity rate, which is the number of positive cases among a batch of individuals tested, for December 2020 was less than 1 percent.

“Matawag nato nga frontliners, service providers, (and) commercial establishments are the ones that are being exposed so mga nanarbaho, and it’s not surprising because they are the most exposed. They cater to clients on a day-to-day basis,” said Malate.

(“We can call that them – the frontliners, service providers, [and] commercial establishments – [because they] are the ones being exposed. So these are the working people, and it is not surprising because they are the most exposed. They cater to clients on a day-to-day basis.)

However, Lizer said with this development, we still could not say that there was a workplace transmission.

He said that he had already tasked the city’s contact tracing team to determine the details of their work if they would ride public or private transportation;  second, to identify if the working place is coming from Cebu City, Mandaue or Lapu-Lapu City; and lastly, to determine the workers common activities if they would go to a grocery store, pharmacy, among others.

“Kay di buot pasabot nga nagtrabaho ka sa trabaho gyud na. Pwede baya ig human nimo og trabaho niadto kag grocery, nipalit ka sa botica, niadto ka sa pera padala. (There are) so many aspects we cannot conclusively state nga work transmission na sad ni siya,” he said.

(We cannot say that because you work and you got the virus from your workplace. It is possible that after you leave your workplace, you go to the grocery, or you buy something at the pharmacy, or you visit the money remittance outlet. [There are] so many aspects that we cannot conclusively state that this is again a work transmission thing.)

For now, Malate said their enforcement teams and the police had been monitoring and inspecting business establishments to ensure that the health protocols were being followed.

Malate said the rise in cases could not be anymore attributed to the holiday season.

“Dili na beyond na na siya dinha (holiday season). It’s really in the community. Makita nato nga ato’ng silingan nga siyudad mao sad gyud. It’s consistent sa entire Cebu Island. Mao nang dili na siya maresolba sa LGU alone. It should be the cooperation of all persons in the entire Cebu island. Mao na we should do our part, our roles,”  he said.

(The [holiday season] is not the cause it is beyond that. It is really in the community. We can also see that development in our neighboring cities. It is consistent with the entire Cebu island. That is the reason it cannot be resolved by an LGU alone. It should be the cooperation of all persons in the entire Cebu island. That is why we should do our part, our roles.) /dbs

Read: Mandaue City to strictly implement health protocols

Read: Mandaue eyes stricter implementation of health protocols amid rise of COVID-19 cases