Mayor attributes early downtrend to people’s cooperation

Mayor Benjamin Magalong has attributed the present decreasing trend in Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in the city to the strong cooperation shown by local residents and the Baguio-La Trinidad-Itogon-Sablan-Tuba-Tublay (BLISTT) officialdom and their constituents to the health and safety protocols and movement restrictions implemented due to the Delta variant.

The mayor said unlike other cities which took three months to achieve a downtrend, the city managed to curb its cases in one month and three weeks.

“This is because of the very cooperative ang ating community dito and highly compliant sila sa protocols.  Our cooperation with the BLISTT to control mobility and the introduction of additional measures in our heightened GCQ status also played a big role kaya mabilis natin naibaba,” the mayor said.

He expressed hope that this kind of discipline will continue for the city to sustain the decline and eventually trounce the Delta variant hold.

He said although cases had shown a significant decline, it does not mean that the city is now out of danger because infections continue to happen and the Delta variant, known for its more transmissible and more severe nature, continues to circulate. 

City Administrator Bonifacio Dela Pena said the situation can still be reversed and cases can still go up if the people become complacent.

The city’s COVID-19 numbers based on the various indicators of the pandemic had shown vast improvements from Oct. 10-16, according to City Health Officer Dr. Rowena Galpo.

Most results significantly declined including the case reproduction number, the two-week growth rate (TWGR), the average daily attack rate (ADAR) and the positivity rate.

This manifests in the reduced numbers of active cases from a total of 4,700 to 1,600 and the average daily cases from 261 to 137 and deaths from eight to five and the increased number of those who recovered.

The mayor however said the numbers of fatalities and severe cases remain relatively high.

The hospital critical utilization rate has been down to 76.76 percent and the capacity of quarantine and isolation facilities managed by the city is presently below 50 percent. — Aileen P. Refuerzo