BY MATÉ ESPINA
BACOLOD City was given a reprieve for a couple of days after it registered zero-case for Monday and one on Tuesday. It went back up to 11 on Wednesday and 10 cases last Thursday but considerably lower than the hundreds of cases we were seeing just weeks ago.
Over 90 percent recovery rate has been recorded and out of 4,771 cases and 127 deaths in the capital city alone, only 279 remain as active cases, prompting Mayor Bing Leonardia to appeal that Bacolod be placed under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ), right after President Duterte announced that we will remain on GCQ till the end of November.
City Administrator Em Ang said that even Department of Health (DOH) regional director, Dr. Marly Concovar agrees that Bacolod is qualified to be placed under MGCQ provided it continues to observe “gatekeeping parameters.”
Along with this, the city launched their “Halong, Ugyon Bacolod” campaign which will deploy two teams in four clusters that will conduct simultaneous inspection, monitoring and education activities in targeted establishments like restaurants, variety stores, pharmacies, ukay-ukay, transport terminals, markets, among others that are often frequented by people.
This is on top of the mandated implementation of the BacTrac ID which requires all residents to have, including visitors to Bacolod, before they can enter any government and private establishments.
However, weeks after the said implementation with threat of sanctions for those who are not compliant with the BacTrac ordinance, only a few are equipped to carry out the program. Just a couple of days ago, ready with my laminated BacTrac ID, I went to my bank and did some grocery shopping and in both establishments, I was still asked to fill up forms as they do not have scanners yet. So much for threats!
Some towns and cities around Negros Occidental also reported zero-cases for the day while Don Salvador Benedicto town declared itself COVID-free after no cases have been reported for weeks now. DSB is a popular destination during weekends because of its cool weather and a shopping paradise for plantitas.
At the provincial government, the flag flew at half mast in honor of Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) provincial head, Ferdinand Panes who passed away last Wednesday at the St. Paul’s Hospital in Iloilo City. Panes succumbed to a heart attack and was in coma before he died.
According to reports, he went home to Iloilo first week of October and tested positive for COVID-19. He was intubated at St. Paul’s October 19. Of 30 members of his staff here who were tested following contact tracing, one employee tested positive and has since recovered.
Still on COVID, Bacolod City urged pregnant women to strictly follow minimum health protocols after a total of 43 out of 517 of them tested positive for the coronavirus. The task force is trying to identify the source of this infection because most of the husbands of those who tested positive were found negative.
The report said it may be through household transmission or during commute that these women contracted infection but perhaps because they are more susceptible, the task force advised utmost protection for them.
In Negros Oriental meanwhile, the provincial government recently inaugurated their first molecular testing center with the help of Energy Development Corporation that donated P11 million worth of equipment including two RT-PCR machines that can process at least 500 tests a day with turnover results in 24 hours.
Richard Tantoco, EDC president and chief operating officer, said that these machines will allow
Negros Oriental to immediately respond to the pandemic unlike before when they had to wait for 10 days for tests to be brought and results to come back from Cebu City.
EDC which owns and operates the 222.5 megawatt geothermal facility in Valencia, Negros Oriental said this effort is “our way of showing our unwavering commitment to help the Negrenses thrive amid this health and economic crisis.”
Tantoco also announced in his virtual speech via Zoom that they are planning to donate RT-PCR machines as well to Negros Occidental and even in Iloilo even if they do not have business there. EDC is part of the Lopez group of companies.
In other parts of the province, while people are still reeling from the effects of Typhoon Quinta that destroyed over P35 million in agriculture and livestock, torrential rains have been pouring again in the past two days even though Typhoon Rolly is still a couple of days away.
Disaster and rescue teams are on alert even if Rolly will reportedly not make landfall in this part of the country as weather bureaus are eyeing it may turn into a super typhoon and its track has been erratic.
My family in Metro Manila are bracing as they will take a direct hit from Rolly which may bring in a meter of rain in the next five days. I just hope and pray that nothing extreme will happen as this typhoon is said to pack 120-kilometers of wind that can destroy many things in its path.
Oh well, we will see by next week what happens to that Manila Bay dolomite beach!/PN
