Baguio addressing spike in covid-19 cases

12 March 2021 – Baguio City is handling the spike in its Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases with its well-placed control systems, Mayor Benjamin Magalong assured.

The mayor said the outbreak at the business process outsourcing companies had been contained even as close monitoring of employees and engagements with the firms for the enhancement of health and safety measures are continuing.

He said a surge in cases among hospital workers had been observed and is also currently being addressed.

The mayor said contact tracing and other preventive measures are also continuing for the city’s lone B117 or UK variant case to ensure that no further transmission occurred.

He did not discount the possibility of an outbreak on the new variant in the city with the easing up of border protocols and said measures will be adopted among which the possible return of the testing requirement for those coming to the city with the use of the antigen tests.

The Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Disease had allowed local government units to impose testing for entrants but limited it to Reverse Transcription- Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) tests.

The mayor agreed to temporarily lift the testing requirement in view of the prohibitive cost of the swab tests for both Baguio residents and tourists.

He said that if reinstituted, antigen tests will be made affordable to both residents and tourists from the previous P1,300 to just P350 per test.

He said testing remains to be a vital component of the city’s continuing fight against COVID and the city cannot forgo the testing requirement for residents and tourists for long especially with the threat of more transmissible variants lurking around.

City Health Officer Rowena Galpo reported that the number of active cases between March 1 and March 8 in the city had doubled from 256 to 543.

The two-week growth rate (TWGR) showed a growth change of 32 percent from 672 last Feb. 8-21 to 890 last Feb. 22 to March 7.

The average daily attack rate (ADAR) for Feb.22-March 7 also reached 10.1 percent or double the five percent threshold. – Aileen P. Refuerzo