OLONGAPO CITY––This city only has two active COVID-19 cases left, and should not have been included in the Department of Health (DOH) list of communities with positive two-week infection growth rates, said Mayor Rolen Paulino Jr. in a statement Tuesday, Dec. 21.
Paulino said DOH needs to correct erroneous data when it said Olongapo had the highest COVID-19 daily cases from Dec. 7-20 alongside Iligan City and the provinces of Camiguin, Tawi-Tawi, and Aklan.
The health department says Olongapo had 25 total active cases as of Dec. 20, but Paulino pointed out that the city currently has 2 active cases. “Sa katunayan, itong buwan ng Disyembre ay anim na cases lamang ang pinakamataas na COVID active case (In fact, our highest number of active cases in December so far was 6),” the mayor said.
“Maaring mali lamang po ang information na naibigay kay DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire kahapon sa kanilang press briefing. Posible rin po na wala lang context ang ibinigay na data sa kanya dahil nitong mga nakaraang araw isa lang po ang ating active case kaya nang naging dalawa naging 100% increase nga naman. (It is possible DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire was fed the wrong information in her regular Monday press briefing. It is also possible the data she received did not include the proper context, because the city only had one active case in the past days so when that number became two it was of course reflected as a 100 percent increase),” Paulino said.
“Gayunpaman, kailangan ilagay sa tamang context ito (Regardless, DOH has to place its health information about Olongapo in the proper context),” he said. —JOANNA ROSE AGLIBOT