ILOILO City – The number of infected healthcare personnel in Western Visayas has now reached over 2,700.
Data from the Department of Health (DOH) in Western Visayas as Feb. 8 showed the region having 2,772 hospital workers and volunteers positive for COVID-19 – 1,267 were medical workers made up of physicians, nurses, medical technologists, and nursing attendants.
The remaining 1,505 were non-medical workers that included ambulance drivers, barangay volunteers and barangay officials. Of the total cases, 13 succumbed to the viral illness.
A chunk were nurses at 601. Physicians infected with the virus reached 231; medical technologists, 141; nursing attendants, 110; and others, 184.
Iloilo City had the most number of COVID-19 cases among medical and non-medical workers with 390 and 373 cases, respectively.
According to Dr. Jane Juanico, head of the infectious disease section of the DOH Region 6, this was an inevitable instance as healthcare workers were considered “high-risk” for COVID-19 infection because they directly deal with patients.
Some of these healthcare workers were tasked to manage locally stranded individuals (LSIs) and returning overseas Filipino workers (ROFs), she added.
“Of course ang aton healthcare workers nagaka-infect kay siempre everyday naga-atubang gid na sila sa aton nga cases. Padayun man ang pag-abot sang aton LSIs and ROFs, and sa amo ni nga hanay sang arrivals naton may isa or duha gid na nga positive,” explained Juanico.
Aside from this, she said there is an ongoing transmission in communities that could be the possible source of infection.
DOH-6 also reiterated the importance of following minimum health standards such as wearing of facemasks and frequent washing of hands.
Juanico also noted that when the vaccine for the coronavirus becomes available, healthcare workers will be the first in the queue.
“We hope to see nga later on mahagan-hagan gid ang cases amongour healthcare workers,” Juanico said./PN
