De Oro mayor brushes aside new lockdown calls, says COVID-19 surge driven by local transmission

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—The city government has brushed aside recent calls for a lockdown as COVID-19 cases went on a rampage in the last two weeks.

As of May 4, the city has 567 active cases, an increase of 68 percent from the 337 cases on April 20.

The highest single-day tally of the city was recorded last April 30 at 70 cases.

Mayor Oscar Moreno said there had been various recommendations to lock the city down and close it to inbound travelers to fight the spread of SARS Cov2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

But Moreno said after closer examination, he saw that the new infections were cases of local transmission driven mainly by the spread of the virus in households and workplaces.

He said case profiles showed that the new infections were from mass gatherings at birthday parties, other celebrations and funerals.

“Most of them got the virus in their homes and places of work,” said Moreno. Failure to comply with health protocols was “the main culprit,” he said.

Dr. Jose Llacuna, regional health chief, earlier sounded the alarm on the spiral of cases in the city, expressing concern that a runaway surge of cases could overwhelm the city’s health system.

Llacuna said the city is now at moderate risk of a surge in infections from being low risk in the last several months.

Llacuna blamed the surge in new COVID-19 cases on mass gatherings during the Holy Week, which had spawned super spreader events that fanned new COVID-19 cases.

TSB