Cebu City EOC sees better days

A shot of the Cebu City skyline sans the fear currently gripping the metro due to the pandemic. CDN Digital photo | Morexette Marie B. Erram

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is seeing better days with better figures with its own count of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases.

In the EOC records, the city now only has 1,696 active cases of the virus, which differs by almost 900 from the Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7) count of 2,467 as of March 22, 2021.

According to Councilor Joel Garganera, the deputy chief implementor of the EOC, the disparity is caused by the once a month harmonization of data.

The EOC and the DOH-7 only harmonize their data once a month causing a massive recovery in the records released to the public, when in fact these recoveries have long been recorded by the EOC.

READ: Garganera: No need for granular lockdowns in Cebu City

Within the week, the DOH-7 report should reflect the numbers of EOC as they are set to harmonize the numbers this week.

Still, this shows that a downtrend is now being seen in the cases of the city.

“Maayo ang kahimtang karon. Out of 15 hospitals, 977 available beds, 440 ra ang occupied or at least 45 percent ang occupancy. Sa atong 11 private hospitals, out of 614 beds, 222 ra ang nag-occupy or 36 percent ra ang occupancy,” said Garganera.

Garganera also said that Barangay Guadalupe is now seeing 2-digit cases per day as compared to 3-digit cases it has been recording in the past two months.

The EOC hopes that the public continues to follow the health protocols so that the numbers would continue to go down and the city will recover while waiting for the vaccines.

READ: Vaccination simulations for BHWs and health workers begin in Cebu City

Tomorrow, barangay health workers will be vaccinated, which will become an added layer to the city’s immunity against the virus. /rcg