CONTRASTING FATES: Iloilo City mayor nixes OCTA Research study; Bacolod continues to control new infections

By Francis Allan L. Angelo and Dolly Yasa

 

Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas disagreed with the findings of OCTA Research that the city is a high-risk area for COVID-19 due to high daily case load, attack rate, or high hospitalization occupancy.

Octa Research, a group of experts monitoring the COVID-19 situation in the country, reported on Tuesday that Iloilo City and San Carlos City, Negros Occidental are high-risk areas primarily because of high attack rates.

Iloilo City’s attack rate of 11.4% is the third highest among LGUs outside Metro Manila. The attack rate data was compiled from Oct 11-24.

OCTA Research explained that in the analysis of COVID-19 hotspots, it uses as the basis the attack rate per 1,000 population for the most recent two-week period.

“The attack rate is just the number of new cases per day relative to population. For example, a daily attack rate of 5 percent per 1000 means that there are five new cases per 100,000 of population. A higher attack rate means more people are getting infected,” the group said.

In the group’s study, a province or an LGU with a daily attack rate of 1.0 percent per 1,000 is classified as low-risk.

Victorias (6.3%) and San Carlos City (6.2%) in Negros Occidental ranked 14^th and 17^th, respectively, in the attack rate list.

Pavia, Iloilo is ranked 24^th with an attack rate of 5.8%.

But Treñas said the study should base its findings on some other factors like testing rates.

The mayor said Iloilo City conducts 600 to 700 tests daily, which is higher compared to other local government units.

In his Facebook page on Thursday, Treñas said the city’s COVID-19 team collected 344 swab specimens in the past 24 hours, bringing the total swab specimens collected to 39,014.

“A total of 333 active cases were recorded and currently isolated to contain the virus. We also recorded a total of 83 deaths from the entry of the virus to the city while 42 of our residents recovered today,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Iloilo City COVID Team recorded an average of 51 cases daily in the city from Oct 1-27, 2020.

Treñas said this is due to continuous contact tracing and swab testing efforts.

“It is vital that we identify the number of cases so we know how the virus transmits in the city. We will not stop identifying and isolating those infected so we can also stop the spread and end this war,” he added.

In Bacolod City, things look better after it recorded one new COVID-19 case on Tuesday.

Bacolod Public Information Officer Danny Dangcalan said this is the lowest number recorded since the infection peaked in September.

Data also indicated that the city logged 50 new recoveries, bringing the active cases down to 330.

As of Tuesday, confirmed cases in Bacolod totaled 4,750, with 4,298 recoveries, or 90.48 percent of the confirmed cases.

The city has 122 deaths or 2.57 percent of the total confirmed cases.

Despite the downtrend, Bacolod City remains under general community quarantine (GCQ) just like Iloilo City.

Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia said he will ask the national government to lower the city’s status to a more permissive Modified GCQ as they have managed to bring down the number of new infections in the past weeks.

Treñas, on the other hand, said he will abide by the GCQ classification which lasts until end-November.