COVID cases in PGH still ‘manageable’

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / RICHARD A. REYES

MANILA, Philippines — Cases of COVID-19 at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) remain “manageable” despite a recent uptick that prompted management to require the wearing of face masks on its premises again, an official said on Wednesday.

In a message to the Inquirer, Dr. Jonas del Rosario, the PGH spokesperson, said the staff of the country’s top COVID-19 referral facility during the pandemic was still fully capable of preventing any outbreak after a spike in infections was observed in the past week.

Hospitalizations due to COVID-19 continue to be manageable, Del Rosario said, noting that eight patients currently admitted at PGH had tested positive.

Six of them were children, three of whom had severe symptoms, two with a mild infection, and the last one was a moderate case, according to Del Rosario.

The two other patients were adults with mild cases, but their COVID-19 infection was considered “incidental” since it was detected only after they were admitted for other illnesses.

Staff in isolation

While some of the PGH healthcare workers have been out of duty and are in isolation due to COVID-19, the cases “have not affected” operations, Del Rosario said.

In January 2022, as the Omicron surge sent COVID-19 infections to a record high, admissions at PGH peaked at 824, far exceeding its 350-bed capacity.

That same month, infections among PGH staff members reached a high of 1,039.

In March this year, when infection rates slowed down, PGH opened its COVID-19 isolation ward to other patients with highly infectious ailments, such as tuberculosis, to expand operations that used to focus only on coronavirus cases. Later it also eased COVID-19 protocols, such as mandatory masking, as the government in July lifted the public health emergency status brought about by the pandemic.

Masking reimposed

However, PGH reimposed masking rules on Sunday amid an upswing in COVID-19 infections nationwide.

Based on the latest data from the Department of Health, the country logged an average of 260 cases per day from Dec. 5 to 11, a 36-percent increase from the previous week’s daily average of 191 cases.

It was the first time that the country saw a daily average of more than 200 cases since July 21, when President Marcos declared the public health emergency over.