Doctors get 1 day reprieve with more recoveries, less new cases on Sept. 30

October 3, 2021 Metro BLISTT

Baguio doctors here finally had one small victory for this month against a foe so terrible when it sent home more Covid-19 patients than accept new one. The one day reprieve that came at the last day of the month when a delta variant driven Covid-19 cases spiked to all time high saw 389 recoveries against “measly” 210 new cases on Thursday.
The record recovery at the end of September was a small victory for stressed out medical frontliners during the most toxic month in the 18-month battle against a pandemic that has claimed 491 lives, 148 alone for this month, in the city.
All told, 7,073 infections were recorded for the month alone breaking the 3,046 logged last April but doctors have yet to deal with 4,343 active cases down from the all-time high of 4,526 Wednesday.
“We will be hit hard,” mayor Benjamin Magalong said during a press conference last August, “and here we are now, experiencing it,” he added in another press conference last September 22.
Just like that, the total confirmed cases in the city is 24,575 with recoveries of 19,741 or a recovery rate of 80.33 percent, the third worst in the region and below the average recovery rate of 89 percent.
With its high number of recoveries on Thursday, the number went up to 3,452 for the month or a recovery rate of 115 patients a day but less than half of the 7,073 cases or more than 235 daily infections. That is translated to a 48.8 percent daily recovery.
Last September 9, only 37 patients were sent home but the city logged 249 new cases or a ratio of nearly seven new cases for one recovery.
Baguio accounts for almost a third of the region’s 73,803 confirmed cases as well as a third also of the 22,477 cases logged by the Department of Health – Cordillera for this month alone. Baguio logged a record high 411 on September 18 and averaged nearly 300 cases the last six days prior the relatively low 210 on Thursday.
In another gloom and doom announcement, Magalong, said that there will be no letup in the next few weeks as he admitted that they expect more cases in the coming weeks.
Magalong said that to reduce cases, the battle now shifts to the workplace where employers must adopt a work from home mode for their employees.
Also, families should also help battle the spread of virus including put up of own isolation facility within the house and observe health protocol including wearing of face shield even inside the house.
He also said that the city revved up its vaccination efforts to jab as many locals as possible. He was happy to note that last September 17 alone, a record 9,335 citizens were jabbed in the city’s seven vaccination centers.
The Saint Louis University vaccination center topped it with 3,212 vaccinees, while there were 1,653 residents who availed of the vaccine at the University of Baguio gym, at SM with 1,540, 1,154 at Divine Mercy, 692 in Irisan, 575 at the city market and 509 at the Baguio City National High School.
Meanwhile, Baguio remains under general community quarantine with heightened restrictions for the month of October.
Abra is under the same quarantine status while Apayao, after a downtrend during the latter half of the month, was downgraded to modified enhanced community quarantine and is now joined by Kalinga, where cases skyrocketed during the second half of the month.
Pigeon Lobien/ABN