CEBU, Philippines — Cebu and the rest of Central Visayas have been de-escalated to Alert Level 2 after being placed under Alert Level 3 for a month following a resurgence of coronavirus cases in January believed to be spurred by the Omicron variant.
Presidential spokesperson Karlo Nograles said the alert level status will take effect on February 16 until the end of the month.
He made the announcement on Valentine’s Day, the same day Cebu started vaccinating children five to 11 years old against COVID-19.
Dr. Mary Jean Loreche, chief pathologist of the Department of Health (DOH)-7, said the challenge now is to bring the alert level even lower to Alert Level 1.
“Let’s make it to Alert Level 1 after this. It’s the coordinated involvement and response of everyone… After Odette and the Omicron surge, One Cebu can now move onwards to preparing for endemicity, rebuilding, and reintegration. Congratulations to all!” she said.
Loreche is also the spokesperson of the Visayas Vaccination Operations Center (VVOC).
Cebu City Councilor Joel Garganera, deputy chief implementer of the city’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) said Nograles’ announcement was “the best Valentine’s gift”.
“We should continue to work together protocol-wise… walay imposible, kaya ni nato pildihon si COVID aron ma-normal na pagbalik atong kinabuhi inubanan sa pagmatngon sa tanan higayon,” Garganera said.
Mayor Michael Rama also reminded residents to not lower their guard down.
“No lowering of our guards, especially to our men in uniform with respect to minimum health protocols compliance and I wish that will be our focus in the days to come and maybe in the months that will be ahead of us,” Rama said.
Valentine’s data
Cebu City’s so-called Valentine's data for COVID-19 shows that its positivity rate is now nearer to the World Health Organization threshold of 5 percent after posting 8.58 percent with only 46 turning out positive out of the 536 people tested.
From a peak of more than 7,000 active cases the past month, the city’s active cases have gone down to 2,364 as of this writing.
It’s critical care utilization rate has also reached a very safe level of 36 percent after hospitals expanded their COVID bed capacity after more health care workers recovered from the illness.
“Our Valentine’s Data, we’re now below 10% positivity rate at 8.58 PR, sharp contrast from 3 weeks ago when we have 57%. Our hospital utilization rate is very safe at 36 % and 3 weeks ago we are at 70%, 3 weeks ago 752 of our frontliners in 22 facilities in Metro Cebu got COVID. Today, they’re now down to only 174… this means with low case, low CCC (COVID Critical Care) occupancy… our health care facilities are in the pink of health. From 7,600++ cases 3 weeks ago, we are now down to 2,364 today with 990 of these cases up for validation,” Garganera said.
Mandaue curfew
With the de-escalation, its neighboring city, Mandaue, has decided to remove curfew.
“Daghan ang mga negosyo ug mga empleyado dinhi sa dakbayan ang naglisod ug recover ilabi na nga anaa pa tay gipa tuman nga curfew. Karon nga gipaubos na ta sa Alert Level 2, atoa nang wagtangon ang curfew para sa tibuok dakbayan sa Mandaue,” said Mayor Jonas Cortes.
“Padayon gihapon ta sa hugtanong pagpatuman sa atong mga health protocols ug sa pagpa bakuna. Magtinabangay tang tanan para maka recover ta sa kalisod nunot niining pandemya,” he added.
Lapu-Lapu tourism
Lapu-Lapu Mayor Junard Chan said the de-escalation would revitalize the city’s tourism industry again.
“Manghinaot ko mabuhi na pagbalik ang kaigsoonan nato nga nagsalig sa turismo. Mao na atoa na sad pagasugdan atong tour within Mactan Shrine… naay mga kapunungan sa atong mga tourist guides nga nag-organize ani… gisuportahan og inabagan sa atong Lapu-Lapu City Tourism Office para makita og makabangon na sila sa ilang tagsa-tagsa nga pangunabuhian,” Chan said.
Like Rama, he urged residents to always follow health protocols to stop the transmission of the virus.
“Ako nanghinaot nga padayon atong pag-amping; padayon nato batunan ang health protocol para dili mograbe atong kaso ug ipadayon nato ang pagbakuna diin ato pud nasugdan na ang pagbakuna sa atong mga kabataan. With this development, I am pretty sure mabalik na ta sa atong normal na atong kinabuhi ug makabangon na ang mga Oponganon,” he said.
Consolacion
The town of Consolacion, which is under Cebu Province, will make sure vaccination against COVID-19 will continue. On Valentine’s Day, it hosted the launch of the vaccination of children between 5 to 11 years old in Cebu.
“It is beneficial to our local economy and a better atmosphere for our people. We must continue through with our vaccination and our observance of public health protocols,” said Mayor Joannes Alegado.- Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon, Mary Ruth R. Malinao, JMO (FREEMAN)