‘GCQ status still not final’

By Joseph B.A. Marzan

 

Iloilo City’s COVID-19 team spokesperson said on Monday that it withheld the letter to the national Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) requesting for a more relaxed Community Quarantine (CQ) status, citing the uncertainty of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) situation.

Public Safety and Transportation Management (PSTMO) chief Jeck Conlu, the designated spokesperson of the city’s COVID-19 Task Force clarified, in a radio interview that the city is still under the Modified Enhanced CQ (MECQ).

The MECQ began on Sept. 25, 2020 by virtue of Executive Order (EO) No. 149 issued by Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas on Sept. 24.

The IATF-MEID approved the city government’s request for a stricter CQ regime via Resolution No. 74, also on Sept. 24.

On Sept. 26, however, the Iloilo City’s Emergency Operations Center said that the city will be seeking to revert to the “more permissive” General CQ.

The city government’s press release stated that the letter to the IATF-MEID would be sent on Sept. 28. However, no letter has been sent as of this writing.

In the radio interview, Conlu confirmed that the city government had not yet sent its letter to the IATF-MEID, saying that they are still assessing the situation in the city.

“Last Saturday, the COVID-19 Team convened with Mayor Jerry Treñas and discussed if we could wind down to GCQ. The status of the city right now is the MECQ, under the Resolution No. 74 of the IATF. With the data and facts we presented to the doctors and to the academe today, we haven’t sent the letter yet to the IATF, we are still assessing within the week of what the responses would be,” Conlu said.

He added that asking the inter-agency body to relax quarantine restrictions is “not an easy task”.

“We just started with the MECQ, and we cannot easily ask the IATF to relax to the GCQ. We have daily developments in the situation of the city, we cannot predict what will happen within one week’s time, so that is why the COVID-19 Team and the mayor cannot easily decide because this is not a designed disaster or event where we can do simulations,” he added.

Conlu said they will continue to monitor the development of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the city, saying that the final decision will depend on such developments.

“We are still under MECQ, on our fifth day, and within the week we will monitor the influx of cases. If we have better developments, it is possible we can request for GCQ, but if not, we will just have to finish the 15 days which was approved by the IATF.

The Iloilo City Government’s latest data, according to Conlu, indicated that the city has 2,254 total confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 44 total deaths.

The age of the cases in the city range from as early as 1 month old to 99 years old, with 35 years being the median age, and majority of the cases within the 21 to 30 age group.

80 percent of the positive cases are asymptomatic.

A total of 62 barangays had clustered cases, either having two or more cases or two consecutive morbidities in a week.

The City Epidemiological Surveillance Unit (CESU) recorded 62 barangays with clustering of cases in the past two consecutive morbidity weeks.

As of September 26, Jaro district has the most number of cases with 560 with 369 recoveries and 13 deaths; followed by City Proper with 428 cases; 267 recoveries; and 16 deaths; Molo with 389 cases with 251 recoveries and seven deaths; Mandurriao with 278 cases; 173 recoveries and three deaths; Lapuz with 243 cases; 124 recoveries; and five deaths.

Meanwhile, the total registered COVID-19 cases in the city totaled 2,254 as of Sept. 26 where 1,793 are asymptomatic; 307 are influenza like illness; and 127 are severe acute respiratory infection (SARI).

Majority of these cases or 92 percent equivalent to 2076 are local cases; 57 or 3% are locally stranded individuals (LSIs); and 82 or 4% are returning Overseas Filipino Workers (ROFs).

As to the city’s mass testing program, the city government has conducted 30,685 total tests conducted, with 782 average swab procedures per day. (With are report from ERS)