Mayor asks DOH to sort out ‘conflicting data’

Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Trenas wrote a letter to Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and DOH Region 6 to ask for appropriate actions to resolve the conflicting data released by the DOH COVID-19 Case Bulletin and the Iloilo Epidemiological Surveillance Unit City Health Office.

A case in point were the numbers released on Oct 10, 2020, particularly the number of cases in the city and province of Iloilo.

Trenas pointed out that 80 cases were reported in just one day in Iloilo City when in fact the number was the cumulative cases from Oct 4-9.

“DOH released that there are 136 total new cases in Iloilo while the Iloilo CESU-CHO recorded only 24 new cases. When the city government inquired on the same, a representative from your Department responded that the 136 total new cases was in fact a combination of the total new cases from Iloilo City and Iloilo Province pointing out that 80 out of 136 is attributed to the former. However, it must be noted that the 80 cases were not all new cases for a single day (October 9, 2020) but were in fact the accumulative number of new cases beginning October 4, 2020 until October 9, 2020,” the letter reads.

Trenas said that “to continually publish data in this manner breeds deception and propagates misleading information. Relevant, and accurate data about COVID-19 is important to manage the situation for an urgent and targeted response.”

“As such, it is most respectfully requested that appropriate actions be taken in order to resolve this contrast in data so that confusion of the public is avoided. In these perilous times, the duty of disseminating accurate and correct information is imperative,” he added.