Surgical lockdown pushed in six city barangays

By Joseph B.A. Marzan

 

Six barangays in Iloilo City on Monday were recommended for surgical lockdown by the city government’s Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Task Force after recording three or more cases in the past four days.

This was announced by Dr. Roland Jay Fortuna, the city government’s COVID-19 Focal Person, during a press briefing the COVID-19 Task Force’s meeting on Monday morning.

The following barangays have recorded three or more new cases from Oct. 1 to Oct. 4:

– Cubay, Jaro (13 cases);

– San Antonio, Molo (4 cases);

– Airport, Mandurriao (3 cases);

– Fajardo, Jaro (3 cases);

– San Roque, Jaro (3 cases); and

– Guzman-Jesena, Mandurriao (3 cases).

Under surgical lockdowns, only specific, targeted areas are placed under a lockdown by the local government unit (LGU) and not the entire barangay.

Dr. Fortuna said that an Executive Order would be issued by Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas to implement the surgical lockdowns by 6 pm on Oct. 5, however as of this writing no EO had been issued.

COVID-19 Task Force spokesperson Jeck Conlu said that the affected households under surgical lockdown will be provided with food packs by the city government.

Five barangays which were under surgical lockdown have had their status lifted after recording no new COVID-19 cases from Oct. 2 to Oct. 4:

– Lopez Jaena Sur, La Paz;

– Bakhaw, Mandurriao;

– Ma. Cristina, Jaro;

– San Jose, Arevalo; and

– Calaparan, Arevalo.

Eight barangays have been added to the city government’s watchlist after recording two new cases as of Oct. 4:

– Calajunan, Mandurriao;

– Divinagracia, La Paz;

– Don Esteban, Lapuz;

– Quintin Salas, Jaro;

– Rizal Pala-Pala Uno, City Proper;

– Sta. Cruz, Arevalo;

– Mohon, Arevalo district; and

– Q. Abeto, Mandurriao.

According to Fortuna, 44 barangays are under lockdown, 12 barangays are on the watchlist, and 6 barangays with lockdown status already lifted.

The city government’s partial data as of 1:11 p.m. Monday listed 34 new cases in the city, 19 of which are local transmissions, 7 are of City Hall employees, and 7 are index cases.

The death of a 78-year-old female with comorbidities from Brgy. Caingin, La Paz district was also reported by the city government.

 

PROTOCOLS AT HOME

In the press briefing, Conlu also urged residents to observe minimum health protocols even while at home to avoid spreading the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) within their households.

“Our cases are already now reaching families, this means that within one family there is a positive case, and after the family is swabbed, they all have the virus. This is the trend we’ve seen. So we also need to practice minimum health protocols inside the home,” Conlu said.

He added that while this would seem like a “joke” to many, he said that many of the cases in the city were of families, however did not disclose the figures on the said trend.

“Maybe you’ll just laugh when we say that at home, we should practice physical distancing, wear masks, but we should really do this, so that when a family member tests positive, the rest of the family will not catch the virus. If we are careful when we are outside, we should also be careful when we are inside because our data also shows that whole households test positive,” he added.

Fortuna urged the public not to be complacent and have themselves tested as early as possible.

“We would like to encourage the people not to wait relaxing in their homes without having been tested. We have free mass testing in the city, and they should have themselves tested because they may not know it, but they may have already infected their family,” Fortuna said.