SunStar
Photo by Mark Perandos May 06, 2021 ALL national and local government vehicles, including those that come in from other regions, are required to open their windows, a fraction or halfway whichever is convenient, while in transit, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio ordered.
Duterte-Carpio emphasized this through Executive Order (EO) No. 25 on Wednesday, May 5, 2021. With the surge of cases in the National Capital Region and other areas in the country and the emergence of new Covid-19 variants, there is a need to expand the implementation of adequate air ventilation beyond PUVs [public utility vehicles] as a strategic measure to control the transmission of the virus, the mayor said in the EO.
SunStar
File photo April 21, 2021 WITH only a number of persons tested positive for coronavirus out of the nearly 5,000 swabbed individuals in the city’s heightened community surveillance, an official from the Davao City Health Office (CHO) assumed that the city continuously experiences “low” transmission of the virus.
CHO Acting Head Dr. Ashley Lopez said in a radio interview the City already swabbed 4,577 individuals as of Monday, April 19, 2021. Out of the number, only 57 tested positive. But this does not include the sidewalk vendors along People’s Park, San Pedro, Bolton, and Magallanes streets who were swabbed on the same day at the People s Park.
April 21, 2021 THE Davao City Health Office is planning to add more Covid-19 swab testing areas, including a drive-thru, to cater to more targeted individuals.
City Health Office (CHO) Acting Head Dr. Ashley Lopez said in a radio interview on Wednesday, April 21, that their office is planning to expand its Covid-19 testing to open field areas such as the Magsaysay Park and People s Park to cater to targeted residents within the downtown area.
The move aims to decongest the Sta. Ana Health Center, the city s main swabbing center, which is currently experiencing congestion with the mandatory swab testing of all close contacts, including the second and third generation contacts of confirmed Covid-19 patients.
April 18, 2021
(Editor’s note: This is a two-part series on the Covid-19 situation in Davao City and what the local government unit is doing to manage it. Read the first part, Covid-19 in Davao City: A year after https://www.sunstar.com.ph/article/1891375/Davao/Feature/Covid-19-in-Davao-City-A-year-after-(Part-1))
AT THE start of 2021, there was a silver lining with the arrival of the Covid-19 vaccines.
Davao City and other neighboring provinces in Davao Region have started the vaccine rollout beginning the first week of March, more than a week since the first batch of vaccines from Sinovac arrived in the country.
SunStar
Photo from Davao CIO April 15, 2021 THE Davao City Health Office (CHO) said it has temporarily closed six isolation facilities intended for confirmed Covid-19 patients due to a low occupancy rate.
CHO Acting Head Dr. Ashley Lopez said in a radio interview on Wednesday, April 14, that from the original 18, the city currently has 12 functional temporary treatment and monitoring facilities (TTMFs) or isolation facilities. This number does not include quarantine and holding facilities.
“We have bed occupancy of 1,200 plus in our TTMFs and as of yesterday (April 13), we had an occupancy rate of 19.5 percent or about 260 isolated cases. That means daghan pa kaayo tag bakante (Occupancy is low),” Lopez said in an interview on 87.5 FM Davao City Disaster Radio.