Cebu City reopens 5 movies houses

CEBU, Philippines —  Closed for almost two years, five cinemas in Cebu City have been given the green light to reopen their doors to movie patrons.

The five include SM Seaside City’s Director’s Club which is for private group viewing only, two cinemas in Ayala Center-Cebu, and two cinemas at Central Bloc at the IT Park in Barangay Apas.

According to Cebu City Emergency Operations Center deputy chief implementer and City Councilor Joel Garganera, it is now up to the owners or managements of these cinemas when they intend to reopen to the public.

He assured, though, that before arriving at this decision, there were prior inspections made.

“Ang pag-open sa cinema, gi-inspect na na. Ang protocols in place na… We have already done our part.

As to when (opening), depende na lang na kay centralized man sila sa head office. So wala pa makadesider kanus-a i-open,” said Garganera.

Garganera said that for cinemas to be allowed to reopen, among the considerations are capacity and airflow.

He added that for a good air flow, doors have to be kept open and that there should be exhaust fans.

“We will put a premium on the CO2 (carbon dioxide) level,” said Garganera.

To monitor the CO2 level, the EOC has recommended the use of the non-dispersive infrared process (NDIR) tool.

Only for fully-vaxxed

Under the new classification scheme of the Inter-Agency Task Force, Cebu City is under alert level 2, which means cinemas and movie houses are already allowed to operate.

Based on the IATF guidelines, such establishments are allowed at a maximum of 50% indoor venue capacity for fully vaccinated individuals and those below 18 years of age. This is further subject to the condition that all workers/employees of these establishments are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and the minimum public health standards shall be strictly maintained.

Then again, the reopening of these establishments is still subject to the discretion of the local government unit.

In Cebu City, the EOC has recommended that only fully-vaccinated individuals will be allowed to watch movies in cinemas.

Although more establishments and activities have already been allowed to reopen, Garganera also reminded everyone that “COVID-19 is still around.”

He also encouraged the unvaccinated ones to get the vaccine now “before it's too late.”

COVID-19 numbers

Since the start of the pandemic, Cebu City has logged a total of 41,454 cases of COVID-19: 39,849 of them recovered, 1,523 died, and 82 others are still active cases.

The 82 active cases are spread in 24 barangays.

EOC data on November 21 also showed 56 barangays without the transmission in the last 14 days.

That same day, only two new cases were added, having turned out positive among the 448 tested. This translates to a very low positivity rate of only 0.45%. — JMD (FREEMAN)