‘SURGE MENTALITY’: Iloilo gears up for possible uptick in COVID cases

By Joseph B.A. Marzan

Iloilo province is anticipating a surge in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases, and Governor Arthur Defensor Jr. is wasting no time to keep it down in his turf.

Data from the Department of Health-Western Visayas Center for Health Development (DOH-WV CHD) as of March 18, 2021 indicated that the province has 4,917 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 467 active cases, 4,319 recoveries and 130 deaths.

DOH data from its central COVID-19 Tracker also showed that in the last 14 days, the province has added 423 new COVID-19 cases as of March 18.

Defensor confirmed in a press conference on Thursday that he has convened the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) in preparation for the surge.

The PDRRMC also approved a resolution requesting line agencies to strictly implement health protocols in the province.

These include the basic handwashing, wearing of masks, and physical distancing, as well as measures like protocols on public gatherings, decongestion, and health protocols in public markets, quarantining asymptomatic COVID-19 cases, contact tracing, and a zoning containing strategy for localized lockdowns.

They also assessed and recommended strategies for the readiness of the district and provincial hospitals and quarantine facilities at the Iloilo Sports Complex.

The governor said that they aim to observe an “Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ)-like” strategy to continue curbing the virus, calling it “surge mentality”.

He cited the recently confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 35 residents working at a call center in Iloilo City and a provincial capitol employee.

“This is about prevention, isolation and detection, where we wish to tighten restrictions. We are on ‘ECQ mode’ because we want to stop the virus from spreading. This is to stop community transmission. We want to return the ECQ-mode consciousness to the people,” Defensor said in a press conference.

He is also preparing to issue Executive Order No. 183-M, which now requires all inbound passengers to the province to undergo testing via Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR), for at least 72 hours or 3 days before their scheduled date of travel.

The only exception to the testing rule are Authorized Persons Outside their Residence (APOR).

According to the Omnibus Guideline of the national Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, APORs include:

health and emergency frontline services personnel;

government officials and government frontline personnel;

duly-authorized humanitarian assistance actors;

persons traveling for medical or humanitarian reasons;

persons going to the airport for travel abroad;

anyone crossing zones for work or business permitted in the zone of destination; and

all of the above who are going back home.

VACCINE SIDE EFFECTS

Defensor also discussed the recent events surrounding AstraZeneca’s AZD1222 vaccines in Europe, where rollout stalled due to reports of blood clots and severe bleeding.

The provincial government ordered 270,000 doses of the said vaccine made by British-Swedish drug maker AstraZeneca together with scientists from Oxford University.

The European Medicines Agency on March 18 cleared the vaccine as safe for use, finding no causative link between the vaccines and blood clots and severe bleeding.

But the DOH on the same day reported suspected serious adverse reactions in patients who have taken their first dose of the vaccine.

Defensor said he is in constant communication with AstraZeneca’s Philippine representatives for all updates on the vaccine.

He said he would trust the statements of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the DOH on the effects of the vaccines which he said were “endemic”, citing his own recent experience with a pneumonia vaccine.

“That really happens, and that is why the WHO also said that this was caused by the vaccine. All vaccines have side effects, whether it’s a flu or pneumonia vaccine. Let us disabuse our minds from the thought that COVID-19 vaccines have no side effects,” the governor said.

The province recently finished its vaccine simulation exercises in early March, and is expecting the arrival of AZD1222 vaccines between the second and third quarters of the year.