Oro’s Covid-19 cases down despite loosened protocols

FROM double digits last December, Cagayan de Oro City’s Covid-19 cases went down to single digits for January this year despite the loosening of health restrictions since last October, the City Health Office (CHO) said yesterday.

“Based on the city’s weekly average daily attack rate, starting in January we experienced single-digit cases which we are both happy and apprehensive about. Due to the loosening of health restrictions, we saw more people crowding public utility vehicles. We see these overloaded PUVs with passengers not wearing their face masks,” said CHO epidemiologist Dr. Teodulfo Joselito Retuya Jr.

During Monday’s Covid-19 response press briefing, Dr. Retuya said while President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s order lifting the restrictions on wearing of face masks in public remains in effect, people are still encouraged to wear them inside PUVs and medical facilities.

“The order was aimed at allowing public transport operators a chance to recover their lost income due to the two-year restrictions,” he said.

Dr. Retuya also said the last recorded double-digit weekly case toll in Cagayan de Oro City was on Dec. 25 to 31 when the city logged 17 cases or two cases daily for that period.

“Our office had re-calibrated our strategies as we continue to monitor our weekly numbers in hopes that we don’t experience another surge again,” Dr. Retuya said in Visayan.

Dr. Retuya earlier pointed to the possibility of people refusing to undergo testing despite experiencing slight Covid-19 symptoms for lowering the number of reported cases last January.

“For one week from January 30 to February 5, there were only five cases with one re-infection with the patients aged between 11 to 92 years old. Still, the new cases involve those that are unvaccinated,” Dr. Retuya said.

Of the six recorded cases, four experienced mild symptoms, one was asymptomatic and another one has severe symptoms. Only one of these six cases traveled outside Cagayan de Oro City.

Since the CHO began recording Covid-19 cases nearly three years ago or from March 15, 2020, to February 5, 2023, the city logged its highest number of Covid-19 cases in 2021 with a total of 17,610 cases and 702 deaths.

Since City Hall joined the rest of the country in launching its vaccination campaign, Covid-19 cases in Cagayan de Oro went down to 7,427 with 117 deaths in 2022, Dr. Retuya said.

“From January to February 5 this year, the city logged 35 cases with one death. For the period of July 1, 2022, to February 5, 2023, Cagayan de Oro logged 2,166 cases mostly caused by the Omicron variant of the virus which is the most prevalent in the country these days,” Dr. Retuya said. (Stephen Capillas of City Information Office)