‘Best compromise’: Bicol doctors call for MECQ in Region as cases pass 16,000

AS OF JULY 2021

21,295

TOTAL NUMBER OF CASES

17,404

TOTAL NUMBER OF RECOVERIES

803

TOTAL NUMBER OF DEATHS

JIBRIL ALLEEN LORENTE

‘Best compromise’:

Bicol doctors call for MECQ in Region as cases pass 16,000

JIBRIL ALLEEN LORENTE

AS OF JUNE 20, there are 16,207 COVID-19 cases in the Bicol Region. The continuous rise in cases made the doctors in the Region sound the alarm and call for the imposition of the Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ) in Bicol.

This is a de-escalation of their original call for ECQ in Bicol, in a letter they sent to the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) and Interior Secretary Eduardo Ano last June 14.

“Upon re-deliberation, like what was imposed in Naga City two nights ago by IATF, modified ECQ is the best compromise,” Dr. Carlsen Antonio, president of Albay Medical Society said on an interview with DZMM TeleRadyo on June 16, referring to the reclassification of Naga to MECQ for June 16-30.

In the June 14 letter, the health workers are worried that the outbreak in the Region might become similar to the situation in India.

“Once our referral hospitals are overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients and the other private hospitals have reached their maximum as well, we may run out of vital equipment and the necessary manpower needed to treat people infected with the virus,” the doctors warned.

They also linked the increased rise in cases to localized transmission and household infection. The Region also recorded its two highest cases since the start of the pandemic - 377 cases on June 7, and 300 on June 8.

“Laxity in the implementation of the Minimum Health Standards in a number of major business establishments; Inadvertent lenient application of the Minimum Health Standards in Local Government Units; Some local officials have also disregarded IATF regulations set by the Department of Interior and Local Government; Slow, inaccessible, and inadequate testing and much slower and poor contact tracing efforts; Unconducive and congested isolation and quarantine facilities; Lack of Personal Protective Equipment,” they enumerated.

The letter also contained the recommendations of the health workers, such as allowing private companies and regional or national agencies to provide isolation and quarantine facilities; consideration for persons

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VACCINATION BOOST. The Local Government Unit of Naga welcomes Vice President Leni Robredo’s NagaVax Express to boost vaccination against COVID-19, which inoculates more than 6,000 individuals, last July 23. Photo by OVP and words by Pauline Velasco

Photos by OVP