WITH fewer Covid-19 cases being reported, the City Health Office (CHO) called on both business establishments and the public to resume presenting their vaccination cards upon entry to ensure their protection against the virus.
“(Our present data) shows a sustained decline in daily and weekly cases (but just to make sure) we plan to meet with business owners and commercial establishments to ask them to require their security guards to continue checking the vaccination cards of their clientele,” said CHO resident epidemiologist Dr. Teodulfo Joselito Retuya Jr during a recent Covid-19 response press briefing.
Dr. Retuya said this even as Cagayan de Oro City logged zero Covid-19 cases and three recoveries as of 10 pm on February 13 last Monday. Last Thursday or February 9, the CHO reported only one case the night before.
While single-digit cases are being logged by the city since last January, Dr. Retuya said this isn’t a solid indication that the virus is completely gone in the city or in any part of the country.
Dr. Retuya said they can only assume that those who may have displayed Covid-19 symptoms refused to undergo testing and chose to cope with their condition in hopes of recovering on their own.
“Thankfully a (lot of Kagay-anons secured their first booster shot),” he said, adding that by completing their primary doses and securing the first booster, shot, the city residents improved their chances of recovery.
Dr. Retuya said the city’s health facilities and the CHO still require all their visitors to wear their face masks and present their vaccination cards in compliance with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s order still requiring the enforcement of health protocols in hospitals.
“We’ll ask the Emergency Operations Cluster (EOC) to ask these offices to resume inspection of vaccination cards (as our personal commitment),” he said.
Until they complete their primary and booster shots, Dr. Retuya said city residents should continue to observe minimum public health protocols either through physical distancing or wearing a face mask, especially inside closed quarters.
“More often than not, the security guards only comply with basic inspection and allow entry without checking on their clientele’s vaccination cards,” he said.
For her part, CHO immunization program coordinator Dr. Ina Grace Chiu invited those who remain unvaccinated or have yet to complete their doses to do while supplies last. Dr. Retuya earlier said he received word from the Department of Health (DOH-10) regional office that the country is expected to receive an additional one million doses from the Covax facility sometime in March.
“We saw how during the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic how many people died but when the vaccination campaign (went into full swing) the death rate steadily dropped. So we need to secure our primary doses and booster shots and our personnel at the barangay and designated mall vaccination sites are ready to administer the shots (because the virus is here to stay for now),” Dr. Chiu said. (Stephen Capillas of City Information Office)
