BACOLOD City – The Emergency Operation Center (EOC) here reserved a quarantine facility in case the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), breaches the city.
According to City Administrator Em Ang, executive director of the EOC, the Medalla Elementary School is the designated isolation facility exclusively for patients positive for the Delta variant.
But, as this was being written, Ang affirmed there’s no case yet of the more transmissible variant in this city.
Ang is also calling on everyone to refrain from posting, sharing or spreading false and unverified reports that may cause panic and confusion to the public.
On Aug. 7 she received a message that a person allegedly having the Delta variant was admitted in one of the private hospitals here.
“I immediately contacted Dr. Jane Juanico of the Department of Health in Region 6 to verify if the information is true. She categorically stated there is no reported case of Delta variant in Bacolod City yet,” Ang stressed.
“Let us cooperate in our fight to stop COVID-19 from further affecting our city,” she added.
Meanwhile, this city is waiting for the arrival of 15,000 doses allocation of Moderna vaccines from the national government anytime this week.
Ang said the city is also expecting the arrival of another batch of AstraZeneca vaccines purchased by the city within this month.
Bacolod is under Alert Level 3 as far as severity of COVID-19 incidence is concerned, based on the new alert level classification of the Department of Health.
This means Bacolod has a high and/or increasing COVID-19 cases and healthcare utilization rate, regardless of the Delta variant’s presence.
It also fulfills all the following conditions:
* risk classification ranges from “moderate” to “critical”
* less than or equal to 70 percent occupancy of its dedicated hospital beds for COVID-19 patients, regardless of Delta variant presence./PN