October COVID deaths up

October 31, 2021 Metro BLISTT

With the nine and eight deaths on Thursday and Wednesday, the city’s total fatalities due to Covid-19 for this month has soared to 162 topping last month’s 148. Last month’s total for the same period was 126.
The news of death has a damping effect to the downtrend of infection due to the Delta variant. The city has logged double digit new cases for already a week now with a low of 44 also on Wednesday when the city started opening its borders to allow tourists, fully vaccinated ones.
Death came to eight of those suffering from severe Covid, a trend this month when the average fatality is almost six a day and the highest mortality rate of 2.22 percent. The city logged the highest single death for a day at 13, breaking last month’s 12 and has at least a death a day compared to last month’s two instances when there were no mortality.
Also this month, 10 deaths were reported in two instances against a single last month, while there were nine earlier this month and the four instances when death toll is eight including the past two days. Seven deaths were charted on three occasions – October 6, 17 and 18, while the first two days of the month saw six deaths and again on the 10th.
There were three instances, the 13th, 15th and 24th, when the number fell a little below the average 5.67 a day. On two occasions that there were four (October 8 and 20), twice when there were three and five days when there were two.
On the plus side, however, after soaring to 394 new cases on October 7, new cases have dropped and the last seven days showed double digit
increases. With Wednesday’s low of 44 as active cases dropped to 743, more than a sixth of the October 4 high of 4,686.
Recovery has outstripped new cases since October 6 when 503 patients were given the green slip, while “only” 235 contracted the virus.
After a little hiccup on October 7, when new cases topped recovery 394-322, the city saw downtrend in new cases and an uptrend in recovery.
The October 6 to 22 period saw 6,271 persons recovering from Covid that accounts to more than 79 percent of the 7,913 recoveries for the month. That 17 day period saw an average 369 patients out of Covid’s hands.
On the other hand, new cases totaled 2,744 or some 61 percent of the total new cases of 4,466 for this month or an average of more than 161 cases a day. The city actually peaked on the first seven days of October where some 2,024 contracted the virus or nearly 300 cases a day.
Mayor Benjamin Magalong has expressed elation in the decreasing trend of Covid cases. Magalong attributed this to the “strong cooperation shown by local residents and the Baguio-La Trinidad-Itogon-Sablan-Tuba-Tublay (BLISTT) officialdom and their constituents to the health and safety protocols and movement restrictions implemented due to the Delta variant.”
While most cities needed three months to curb the surge, it took Baguio a month and three weeks to reverse the trend, Magalong noted.
“This is because very cooperative ang ating community dito and highly compliant sila sa protocols. Our cooperation with the BLISTT to control mobility and the introduction of additional measures in our heightened GCQ status also played a big role kaya mabilis natin naibaba,” the mayor said.
Magalong, however, warned his constituents that the city is not yet out of the woods, noting also that fatality remain high. City administrator Bonifacio dela Pena warned against complacency that may reverse the trend.
Pigeon Lobien/ABN