CEBU CITY—While the number of new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in this city continues to rise, administrators of local hospitals have managed to breathe a bit as the problem of congestion has been looked into.
Dr. Jaime Bernadas, Department of Health (DOH) director for Central Visayas, said the hospital utilization rate in Cebu City had improved after medical facilities boosted their bed capacities for COVID-19 patients.
“This does not necessarily mean that the number of patients has gone down. We now have vacancies because our hospitals have expanded their number of beds,” he said.
The hospitals’ critical care utilization rate went down from 89 percent in mid-June to 72 percent on July 15. The use of regular beds also went down from 70 percent to 62 percent, Bernadas said.
But the occupancy rate of 10 of 16 medical facilities in Cebu City is still in the “danger” level (more than 70 percent occupancy rate) while three others were in the “warning” level (between 30 and 70 percent).
Only one is classified in the “safe” level (below 30 percent occupancy).
Bernadas appealed to the public to do their share by following health protocols, such as proper wearing of face masks and observance of physical distancing to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Shift to MECQ
Cebu City shifted from enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) to a more relaxed modified ECQ (MECQ) starting on Thursday until July 31 on orders of President Duterte and the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF).
Under MECQ, stay-at-home orders remain but a gradual reopening of the economy will be allowed, with select manufacturing and processing plants resuming operations up to a maximum of half their capacity.
“I welcome the decision of the President and the IATF to downgrade the city’s status although I would have preferred a GCQ (general community quarantine). But we have to abide by and comply with the order. Let’s just do our best so we will be downgraded to GCQ in the coming days,” Mayor Edgardo Labella said.
The DOH said that as of July 15, Cebu island had 12,546 cases, with 611 deaths and 5,546 recoveries. Bulk of the cases came from Cebu City with 7,685.
Cebu province remains under modified GCQ, except for the cities of Lapu-Lapu, Mandaue and Talisay, and the towns of Minglanilla and Consolacion, which will stay under GCQ until July 31.