Active COVID-19 cases in Pampanga nearing 6,000-mark

Employees of the Angeles City government load vaccines into a mobile bus clinic as the local government races against time to contain the surging cases of COVID-19. (Photo from the Angeles City government)

MABALACAT CITY, Pampanga––The combined active COVID-19 cases in Pampanga province and the highly urbanized Angeles City have reached 5,855, based on the Aug. 21 and 22 data of the two local governments.

Pampanga’s latest bulletin showed that the province has 4,692 active cases, while Angeles has 1,163. Angeles is politically independent of Pampanga.

Pampanga and Angeles City registered 38,915 total COVID-19 cases since the pandemic broke out last year. Of these, 80 percent or 31,222 have recovered, while 9 percent or 1,838 have died.

The Department of Health (DOH) said only 26 of the 274 intensive care unit (ICU) beds, or 9 percent, were available in the 47 public and private hospitals in Pampanga and Angeles City as of Aug. 21.

Seventeen percent, or 119, of the 686 isolation beds remained vacant while 32 of the 121 mechanical ventilators in the medical facilities were still available, the same data showed.

Several village health workers said families of COVID-19 patients preferred government-owned health facilities to private hospitals.

“People hear and learn that a COVID-19 patient, especially those showing severe or critical symptoms, are billed up to more than P1 million in private hospitals, even though there’s no guarantee that the patient would survive,” a health worker told the Inquirer recently.

The source added: “Most families simply cannot afford to get treatment from private hospitals,”

The DOH COVID-19 Tracker site showed that only one of the 185 ICU beds at the Jose B. Lingad Memorial General Hospital remained vacant as of Aug. 21. All its 100 isolation beds were occupied.

At least 40 of the 205 isolation beds and 20 of the 57 mechanical ventilators in other government-owned hospitals in Pampanga and Angeles were still available as of Aug. 21.

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