Mariveles LGU rejects OCTA’s ‘very high risk’ tag for COVID-19

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MANILA, Philippines — The Mariveles local government unit in Bataan rejected on Saturday an OCTA Research report tagging the municipality as a “very high risk” area for COVID-19.

OCTA Research earlier said the LGU was a very high risk area for coronavirus after its COVID-19 reproduction number rose to 2.53 from July 5 to 11, from 1.39 from the preceding week.

OCTA also said in its report that the LGU reported 218 new COVID-19 cases on July 11.

However, Mariveles Mayor Jo Castañeda said that the municipality only reported 197 cases from July 5 to 11.

“With regards po sa OCTA Research, meron po kaming correction. Sa OCTA Research meron silang report na in a single day alone meron kaming something like 218 cases wherein mali po ‘yun dahil from July 5 to July 11, nasa 197 ang aming kaso,” she said at the Laging Handa public briefing.

(We want to correct the report of the OCTA Research. They reported that we had 218 cases in just a day. That is not correct because from July 5 to 11, we only recorded 197 new cases.)

“So medyo may pagkakamali lang po siguro. Hindi naman kami very high risk pero high risk pa rin considering the fact na talagang tumaas ang kaso namin mula noong nagkaroon ng mass testing,” she added.

(So there was a mistake. We are not at very high risk but we are at high risk considering the fact that our cases are increasing since we conducted mass testing.)

Castañeda called for vaccine allocation in the LGU based on its population, noting that the local government has only vaccinated around 3,000 out of its 149,789 population.

“Ang gusto ko sanang maipanagawan sa DOH, sana ang Mariveles considering na peculiar ang situation dito dahil kami ay host ng pinakamalaking economic zone dito sa buong Pilipinas, sana ay magkaroon ng sariling allocation ang Mariveles outside of the allocation for the province,” she said.

(Considering that the situation in Mariveles is peculiar because we have the largest economic zone, I ask the DOH to provide us our own allocation of vaccines outside the allocation for the province.)

She noted that Mariveles was receiving equal allocation of vaccines as in other municipalities in Bataan with lesser population.

“I am not saying na it is unfair pero kung sana pro-rated ang pagdidistribute, baka mapantayan namin ‘yung rate ng kanilang vaccination at sana sabay-sabay kaming magkaroon ng herd immunity,” she added.

(I am not saying it is unfair but if the distribution is pro-rated, we will keep up with other LGUs’ vaccination rate and we can all achieve herd immunity at the same timeframe.)

Mariveles currently has 563 active cases of COVID-19, including over 370 located in the industrial areas and around 190 detected in communities, according to the mayor.

JPV