Thursday, June 3, 2021

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Magsaysay Park to become swab site

Posted: 03 Jun 2021 05:09 AM PDT

THE Davao City Covid-19 Task Force is planning to designate Magsaysay Park as an additional swabbing area to help hasten the testing of second (F2) and third-generation (F3) contacts and Safe Davao QR Code (DQR)-traced persons in the city.

City Health Office (CHO) Acting Head Dr. Ashley Lopez said in a radio interview on Wednesday, June 2, that they are currently setting up the area.

"It's almost complete. I think anytime, we will be starting with the swabbing activities diha sa atong Magsaysay Park," Lopez said in an interview on 87.5 FM Davao City Disaster Radio.

Once the Magsaysay Park becomes operational, the Sta. Ana swabbing center will only cater to first-generation contacts (F1) and persons with influenza-like illnesses (ILIs), while the drive-thru swabbing at the Crocodile Park will accommodate surveillance testing, F2 and F3 without ILIs.

"Ato nang gi-designate ang atong major swabbing areas para ma-decompress nato ang Sta. Ana [Health Center]. (We designated major swabbing areas to decompress Sra. Ana.) And we'll be announcing soon kung asa mo muadto nga pinakaduol nga swabbing area para ma-facilitate inyo testing (where you will be swabbed to the nearest swabbing area to facilitate your testing)," he said.

In case there will be crowding at Sta. Ana, he said they will be transferred to Magsaysay Park.

Davao City Covid-19 Task Force spokesperson Dr. Michelle Schlosser, meanwhile, said in a separate interview that the goal of the additional swab areas is to "to have more screening and more testing."

"Hopefully, this will be put into realization as soon as possible kasi tumataas ang cases natin, tumataas din ang swabees (since our Covid-19 positive cases are increasing so goes the number of swabees)," Schlosser said.

The City has also established a swabbing site in Barangay Ilang in Tibungco, Barangay Talomo River in Calinan, and Barangay Toril Proper.

The City will also set up swabbing centers at the District Health Offices.

Lopez, meanwhile, said the city will continue to conduct the heightened surveillance swabbing in communities and certain offices and establishments, especially now that the city is under surge.

"In order to control the surge, dapat gyud proactive 'ta. Intensified atong case finding ron aron di ta muabot ug ato malikayan ang further increase sa kaso (we need to be proactive. We must intensify our case finding so we will avoid the further increase of cases)," he said.

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Buses to be used to transport patients

Posted: 03 Jun 2021 05:01 AM PDT

THE Davao City Government will now be transporting confirmed Covid-19 patients to temporary treatment and monitoring facilities (TTMFs) using buses to avoid delays.

City Health Office (CHO) Acting Head Dr. Ashley Lopez said in an interview that the city will be acquiring two mini buses that will separately cater to patients in the northern and southern parts of the city.

Lopez said this is in response to reports that some mild and asymptomatic patients are not immediately transported to the TTMFs.

Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio confirmed this in her recent radio interview due to the recent surge in Covid-19 cases in the city.

"Tungod sa kadaghan, duna gyuy delay sa pagkuha sa mga patients nga need og isolation (Due to the surge of cases, it is expected that there will be delays in transporting patients to the isolation facilities). Plus the fact na (that) because of a surge, tag hundreds sa isa ka adlaw ang ma-positive, duna puy kakulangan sa bed capacity sa TTMF (temporary treatment and monitoring facilities) (we have hundreds of daily positive new cases and it is expected that there is a possible shortage of bed capacities in our TTMF)" Duterte-Carpio said in an interview on 87.5 FM Davao City Disaster Radio.

Lopez said they already requested additional reinforcement of the Rapid Action Team (RAT) mobile unit, including the purchasing of additional vehicles.

He said there is no need for them to transport patients to the TTMF using ambulances.

Lopez, meanwhile, apologized for the delays.

"Mangayo kog pasaylo ug pasensya para sa atong Covid-19 patients kay karon, dili na makaya ang 24 hours nga turnaround nga atong pag-extract ug pag-transport sa atong pasyente (I would like to apologize and ask for the patience from our Covid-19 patients because we cannot accommodate everyone in 24 hours, from the extraction up to the transport of patients)," Lopez said.

While waiting to be transported, patients are advised to self-isolate in a room.

Meanwhile, Lopez said based on the city's policy, confirmed cases are prohibited from home quarantine.

According to the DOH-Davao Region data as of June 2, Davao City has now reached a total of 2,013 active cases. Meanwhile, total cases have reached 17,528 wherein 14,754 have already recovered, and 761 died.

Lopez recently said the surge of cases in the city can be attributed to the emergence of the new variant. Although he said they are still awaiting the confirmatory report from the Philippine Genome Center.

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Covid-19 Task Force extends SP building’s closure to June 13

Posted: 03 Jun 2021 04:59 AM PDT

THE Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) building will be closed for another week after the Davao City Covid-19 Task Force extended the lockdown up to June 13, 2021.

In a press release, the task force extended the lockdown after 44 employees tested positive for Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.

Covid-19 Task Force Spokesperson Dr. Michelle Schlosser announced on Thursday, June 3, after receiving a recommendation from the City Health Office (CHO) to place the building on lockdown due to the number of positive cases among the employees from various offices at the SP building.

The building was initially placed on a seven-day lockdown for surveillance swabbing.

"We have 44 [positive cases] when we had the mass swabbing at SP. Medyo marami kasi yan for us not to extend the lockdown of the establishment (That is a lot for us not to extend the lockdown of the establishment)," Schlosser said.

CHO Acting Head Dr. Ashley Lopez said in an interview that the 44 were among the 1,083 employees swabbed, as part of the active surveillance swabbing of the City Government. The swabbing activity was conducted from May 29 to 31.

Lopez said most of the coronavirus-positive employees came from the offices located on the ground floor of the SP building, particularly the City Assessor's Office, City Treasurer's Office, and the City Civil Registrar's Office.

"Kadaghanang kaso naa sa City Assessor's gikan (Most of the cases came from the City Assessor's). We also have four cases from the City Treasurer's Office," he said in an interview on 87.5 FM Davao City Disaster Radio.

Lopez said the 44 employees have been isolated and that his office will conduct disinfection inside the SP building offices.

The City Government said the SP building had been placed on a seven-day lockdown due to the alarming rise of Covid-19 cases among City Government employees.

While the SP building is in lockdown, all services of the offices at SP are being done at their district offices.

Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio said in her radio interview that she already instructed the Human Resource Management Office (HRMO) to implement a work-from-home scheme for an incubation period of 14 days.

"Nag-swab na atoang mga employees og daghan sa ilaha ang nag-positive diha sa Sangguniang Panlungsod Building nato (Our employees have been swabbed and there are a lot of them who tested positive)," Duterte-Carpio said in an interview on 87.5 FM Davao City Disaster Radio.

She also noted the clustering of cases within these offices.

Duterte-Carpio, in her recent interview, noted that clustering of cases is observed not only in government offices but also in banks and other private establishments, based on their contact tracing history. (With reports from CIO)

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Some Covid-19 patients may be referred to hospitals outside Davao City

Posted: 03 Jun 2021 04:58 AM PDT

SEVERE and critical Covid-19 patients who can no longer be accommodated at the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) might be transferred to other Covid-19 referral hospitals outside Davao City.

City Health Office (CHO) Acting Head Dr. Ashley Lopez said SPMC's critical care utilization rate (CCUR) is currently under critical level.

As of June 1, SPMC has already expanded its intensive care units from 77 to 87. However, it has still reached its full occupancy, while its ward bed utilization rate is now at 89.42 percent, with 279 out of its 312 beds occupied.

Lopez said the coverage of the One Hospital Command Center was decided to be expanded to the entire region in case there will be an "overspill" of patients.

"The whole Davao Region was opened up in case there is going to be an overspill. Buot pasabot niini, kung wala nay kabutangan ang SPMC, pwede ta mag-sort out sa ubang probinsya (That means, if SPMC can no longer accommodate patients, we can refer them to neighboring provinces)," Lopez said in an interview on 87.5 FM Davao City Disaster Radio on Wednesday, June 2.

The One Hospital Command Center will facilitate a comprehensive and coordinated response to the Covid-19 pandemic by ensuring effective and efficient health facility referral in Metro Manila.

The CHO head said the city can refer the patients to Davao Regional Medical Center (DRMC) in Tagum City, Davao del Norte, which is still not under critical level. He also said they can refer patients to other medical centers in the region.

To support SPMC, private hospitals -- Davao Doctors Hospital, Metro Davao Medical And Research Center, and Brokenshire Hospital -- have started accepting Covid-19 patients.

Lopez said private hospitals were already informed to start catering to Covid-19 severe and critical patients. Private hospitals were also mandated to allocate at least 20 percent of their total bed capacities for Covid-19 patients.

He admitted, however, that not all hospitals have started to cater to Covid-19 patients due to a lack of facilities and manpower.

The official said the city will be augmenting support to private hospitals to help them in their response to catering to patients.

He also said that the Department of Health (DOH) will also be augmenting personnel to help private hospitals.

"Hinaot unta makapa-augment na sila og nurses so that ma-open up nato ang ubang (We hope they can start augmenting nurses so we can open other) private hospitals, both secondary and tertiary hospitals, aron makatabang (so they can help in treating patients)," Lopez said.

Under a surge, the health official said private hospitals must augment 30 percent of their total bed capacity, while SPMC as a medical center should allocate 50 percent of its total bed capacity.

Due to the rising Covid-19 cases in the city, the Davao City Government has requested the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) to elevate the quarantine status of the city to modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) from June 5 to 30, 2021 "to allow a circuit breaker in the surge of patients inside hospitals."

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