‘WHY GCQ?’: Mayor seeks explanation for Iloilo City’s quarantine status

Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas believes that there is no sufficient basis behind the decision of the national government to retain the city under general community quarantine (GCQ) status for the entire month of December 2020 amid the significant drop in coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases last month.

In a Dec 2 letter addressed to Sec. Delfin Lorenzana, chief of the National Task Force Against Covid-19, Treñas sought clarification behind the basis of the GCQ classification of Iloilo City this December.

According to the mayor, there has been a significant drop of Covid-19 cases in Iloilo City in the month of November.

“While Iloilo City has battled with a considerable number of Covid-19 cases in the month of October, there has been a significant drop to the said number for the whole month of November. In fact, data from the City Health Office- City Epidemiological Surveillance Unit recorded a 77% drop in Covid-19 cases in November compared to October averaging to only ten new cases daily,” he said.

Compared to other provinces and cities in Western Visayas, Iloilo has relatively lower number of Covid-19 cases, he added.

From 48 cases per day in October, the average daily cases of Covid-19 in the metro have dropped to 11 in November.

Based on the risk-based escalation and de-escalation of community quarantine adopted by the national government and the indicators cited by the Department of Health (DOH) such as two-week growth rate and daily attack rate, Iloilo City remains a low-risk area.

“We find no logical reason why Iloilo City is classified under GCQ when the numbers speak otherwise. Iloilo City’s growth rate is -36 percent and daily attack rate of 2.15 are comparatively low, based on the data of DOH as of November 30,” he furthered.

The two-week growth rate refers to the growth in the number of cases for the past two weeks while the daily attack rate refers to the number of cases over a certain period of time over a certain number of population.

Treñas emphasized that Iloilo City government has complied with the directives for social distancing protocols, contact tracing and quarantine, and area-based and work-based testing.

The Covid-19 testing of the city was also boosted with the operations of the Uswag Iloilo City Molecular Laboratory.

“Iloilo City has come so far in terms of its readiness to cater to the effects this pandemic brings. It has been ten long months since this pandemic started and the Ilonggos have been extremely patient and compliant with the guidelines set out by the national government. Now with much lesser cases, Ilonggos deserve nothing short of an explanation as to why Iloilo City remains under GCQ,” he said.

The mayor said he is hopeful that the national government will respond and provide him with clarification on the city’s quarantine status.

As of December 4, Covid-19 Regional Case Bulletin No. 252 indicated that Iloilo City has 4,405 cases with 4,128 recoveries, 136 deaths, and 141 remaining local cases. (ERS)