1 in 4 COVID-19 patients in QC a health worker

The local government of Quezon City has expressed concern over the rising number of new coronavirus disease (COVID-19)-positive city health workers who now account for nearly 25 percent of its total cases.

According to the data of the Department of Health, 390 healthcare workers based in Quezon City were infected with COVID-19, or almost a quarter of the city’s 1,578 cases, as of Monday.

The city government said that among the affected health workers were doctors, nurses, radio technologists, attendants and drivers from both public and private hospitals.

Many of the city’s recorded cases could be directly traced to health workers’ family and household members, it added.

One example of this, said the city’s chief epidemiologist Dr. Rolando Cruz, was the recent case of a healthcare worker from Barangay South Triangle who tested positive for the coronavirus and infected some of her family members.

A study conducted by the city’s planners also revealed that barangays close to hospitals, where many health workers live, have the highest viral attack rates in Quezon City.

“Besides putting our own front-liners at risk, leaving them unprotected and untested may cause them to become carriers of the deadly disease to their family and community,” Cruz said.

To slow down the infection rate, Mayor Joy Belmonte appealed to hospital owners and administrators in Metro Manila to provide safer working conditions, more personal protective equipment and free virus testing for their staff and medical professionals.

Cruz also recommended that hospitals put up temporary housing facilities for their personnel, where they could rest physically and mentally without “worrying that they were putting loved ones at risk.”