By Rey Anthony Chiu, PIA-Bohol | 12:15 AM October 05, 2020
Since July 2020 when Bohol governor Arthur Yap placed Bohol under Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ), there has been some 22.8 percent increase in active cases, 800 percent raise in deaths.
The better news is that since then, Bohol has had 1,266 percent increase in recoveries.
This sums the data which Capitol shares at the Bohol Inter-Agency Task Force (BIATF) on the management of Emerging Infectious Diseases Strategic Communications Cluster as of October 2 at 1:00 PM.
This too as Bohol steps off to its fourth month of Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ), still saddled with the million-peso question: How to solve a problem like corona virus disease (COVID-19).
In July 2020, when Governor Arthur Yap placed the entire island of Bohol under MGCQ, the real problem was 16 active cases of COVID-19, all of them from returning locally stranded individuals (LSI).
Bohol also noted 21 recoveries then, from LSIs who have either completed treatment regimens or were simply recovering when their antibodies worked against the virus well within their mandatory 14-day quarantines.
That time, there was also one death, the 89-year old patient from Pangangan Island in Calape.
But, three months later, by October 2, 2020, Bohol authorities have in their hands, 70 active COVID-19 cases, 7 more deaths and 266 persons listed as recovered.
Fresh from a General Community Quarantine which the governor later enhanced into an Enhanced General Community Quarantine by a succeeding executive order, Boholanos found a more relaxed and looser quarantine control despite the continued imposition of province-wide curfew from 9:00 PM to 5:00 AM, and the health and safety protocols.
The last two months have been categorically tough for Bohol health officials as the viral infection jumped from LSIs to local transmission.
The disease epicenters have also moved from Bien Unido island of Malingin, to Guindacpan Island of Talibon and then the sporadic break-outs in San Miguel town, and then a concern of outbreak proportions in Tubigon town, some 58 kilometers north of Tagbilaran.
By October 2, Capitol reports bared that of the 70 active COVID cases, 44 of these are cases of local transmission while another 26 cases are either LSI, or APOR.
Tubigon has already reached 34 active cases all by local transmission.
The 44 cases of local transmission are: Tubigon 36, where 34 are locally transmitted plus two cases of community health workers, San Miguel with 8 cases of local transmission, single case in Buenavista and another single case in Carmen.
Last week, a team led by Governor Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital Chief Dr. Mutya Kismet T. Macuno and the hospital Infection Prevention and Control Unit visited the town in COVID crisis to meet with the Tubigon Municipal Inter-Agency Task Force (MIATF) to assess the current status.
GCGMH wanted to listen to the local workers and assess the situation from there to be able to accurately channel the right assistance, by filling in the gaps, straightening the challenges and removing excess and redundant measures to save critical resources.
Hearing the local COVID situation from Municipal Planning and Development Coordinator Engr Noel Mendaña, as well as from the local police through PCapt Robert Lucernas who showed the local contact tracing team (LCTT) efforts in contact tracing and case finding and their containment plans and security report, the Gallares Team commended the aggressive imposition of the granular lockdown and utilization of the containment strategies for containing the infection.
Dr Salada, who came with Dr Macuno during the visit also praised the conducted community random testing for case finding and the organized 36 local contact tracing teams down to the barangay level.
The visit also prompted the partial lockdown of the Tubigon Municipal Hall last September 24, 2020 for disinfection and infection control by mandatory self-isolation and RT-PCR test to all employees.
Last week too, local MIATF recommended the partial lockdown of the Tubigon Commercial Complex, September 24, 2020 as active cases were also traced to businesses establishments inside the complex, specifically the meat and fish section.
Mayor William R. Jao, in radio interviews has shared that the town has set mandatory RT-PCR tests to businessmen and vendors at the meat and fish section, while nearby stall owners or watchers are set to be tested next.
He also shared that after disinfection of the affected areas, drastic adjustments would be made to ensure social distancing upon its resumption.
Mayor Jao, in reports also acknowledged the vital role of the Gallares COVID Testing Center for the quick turnaround time in getting the PCR test results.
He added that the community transmission could have toppled all efforts and measures of the LGU if results were released longer.
At present, Tubigon, as well as San Miguel officials have been satisfactorily doing their best to contain the transmission, even as Bohol also steps off into a more ambitious calibrated opening of businesses by December, according to the governor. (rahchiu/PIA-7/Bohol)
