Tighter quarantine rules in Northern Mindanao pushed

NO GRIDLOCK Traffic is light at a usually busy section of the city center of Cagayan de Oro as residents choose to stay home due to quarantine restrictions and the rising cases of COVID-19 in the regional capital of Northern Mindanao. —JIGGER J. JERUSALEM (File Photo)

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Northern Mindanao’s Interagency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious disease (IATF-MEID) has recommended the tightening of quarantine restrictions in the region due to COVID-19 infections.

Dr. David Mendoza of the Department of Health (DOH) said the recommendation to place the region under general community quarantine (GCQ) from the current modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) considered all the necessary parameters such as economic, social, health, and peace and security.

Mendoza said the health consideration has more weight in the current situation given that the region’s two-week COVID-19 case growth rate is at 100 percent and its average daily attack rate (ADAR) in the last two weeks at 4.04 per 100,000.

ADAR higher than the one-percent threshold is considered high risk, per DOH standard.

The region is now under medium risk, Mendoza said, due to the continuous rise in infections. On May 13, the region registered its highest single-day count of cases at 307.

As of May 20, the DOH counted a total of 17,686 cases of which 3,088 are active.

“We are very concerned with the sudden, sustained spike in infections,” said Mylah Faye Cariño, regional director of the National Economic and Development Authority.

But Mendoza allayed fears elevating the region’s quarantine classification could mean another episode of crippling lockdowns.

“The escalation does not mean lockdown; its aim is to control the movement of the individuals (as) the virus cannot transmit itself without the help of roaming individuals. This is the primary reason why we need to control the movement of individuals to lower our cases (of infection) in the region,” Mendoza explained.

The epicenter of the surge of infections in the region is Cagayan de Oro which has been battling the rise of cases for the seventh week now. As of Friday, there are 967 total active cases in the city.

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