Davao City ready for impending virus surge

"We are experiencing an impending surge, everything is ready,” the mayor said during her Monday (Jan.10) radio program. 

She said the city’s Temporary Treatment and Monitoring Facilities (TTMFs), with a total bed capacity of 2,674, are being readied amid the rising positive cases recorded at the start of the new year. She said the social gatherings during the Christmas holidays could have caused the growth of COVID-19 cases. 

The city has a total of 433 active COVID-19 positive cases as of Sunday (Jan. 9).

Based on the report from the City Information Office (CIO), from zero reported COVID-19 cases on January 1, the city had two cases on January 2; 16 on January 3; 32 on January 4; 24 on January 5; 67 on January 6; 99 on January 7; 120 on January 8; and 77 on January 9.

“It's still manageable because the TTMFs we used during the Delta surge are still available. We just had them on temporary shutdown when there were no patients anymore but we opened them up again for the impending surge. Everything is ready,” the mayor said. 

The city's TTMFs, according to her, are currently in varied utilization rates with some at 65 percent, others at 75, or 78 percent.

"As we had experienced in our previous surge, when we come to a point that we reach an average of 75 percent occupancy in our TTMFs, we will do home isolation for positive cases that are asymptomatic and mild,” she added.

However, such arrangement changes depending on the policy direction of the Department of Health (DOH).

Duterte also said the bed capacity during the Delta surge is the maximum that the city can provide.

“Our bed capacity stays the same, we can no longer increase it. During the Delta surge, we wanted to increase beds but we lacked health workers. That's our limitation, what we had seen during the Delta surge. That's the reason why we must take extra care. We have already expanded up to such capability our COVID-19 response,” Duterte further said.

Sara continuously reminds Dabawenyos to adhere to COVID-19 protocols such as wearing of face mask, social distancing, frequent handwashing, and vaccination with a booster shot.