Do we really have no positive CoViD-19 cases in Negros Oriental?
Doctors are calling on the public to be more cautious instead of relaxed, amid reports that there are no active CoViD-19 cases in the Province.
Integrated Provincial Health Office assistant officer Dr. Liland Estacion confirmed Friday that Patient CV28 is now “recovering” and has tested negative for the disease twice.
This patient, a 49-year-old male who had returned from Cebu and Dubai, is expected to be discharged from hospital treatment in a few days.
The other patient who had been listed as CoViD-19 positive, a brother of the Tayasan councilor who had earlier died from CoViD-19, had already been discharged from the hospital last week after he had recovered.
Dr. Ma. Carmelita Nuique- Veracruz, director of the Negros Oriental Medical Society, said the news that there is no active CoViD-19 case in Negros Oriental is good news, but it is not a guarantee that the Province is truly free of CoViD-19.
She said there is still a possibility there are CoViD-positive persons who have not yet been tested. “We did not have mass testing, and some carriers do not have symptoms,” the doctor said.
“We need to guard our borders and make sure we do not get any new corona virus carriers to contaminate the Negros Oriental community. We must maintain strict physical distancing to minimize the spread of the virus and we should also identify and isolate carriers by mass testing and strict quarantine measures,” Veracruz said.
Negros Oriental has been on Extended Community Quarantine since April 3. Gov. Roel Degamo extended the ECQ until April 30, upon the recommendation of the Provincial Inter-Agency Task Force on Covid 19.
“We are recommending a 49-day hard lockdown, which is most ideal basing on studies done by other countries that have succeeded in flattening the curve,” Veracruz continued.
Dr. Mansueto Gumban, president of Negros Oriental Medical Society, said the fact that there have only been a few cases in the Province should be looked at from a bigger perspective.
Gumban said the people’s behavior of staying at home could be one of the reasons for the low CoViD-19 cases in the Province.
Gumban asked the multi-agency task force to be aware of the trends of the epidemiological curve of the coronavirus, and the capacity of the local healthcare system.
“Our goal here is to prevent loss of lives and prevent local transmissions,” he said.
He added that the IATF “will have to look at this from a wider perspective because if we will decide on our own as a Province, we might have an influx of cases since there is still an increase of cases in other areas.”
Meanwhile, Philippine College of Physicians-Negros Oriental chapter President Dr. Karen Mae Sayson warned, “We cannot risk further transmission of the virus, and we expect the number of confirmed cases to increase if we lift the ECQ early.”
Although the ECQ calls for strict home quarantine to regulate the movement of the citizens and social distancing, Sayson said she has observed there are still people and vehicles out on the streets.
It was also raised in the same meeting on the constraints in the fight of the virus such as the capability of hospitals, quarantine centers, and healthcare personnel; performance and availability of test kits; social, economic, and security factors, among others. (with a report from jct/PIA7 NegOr)
