Mayor Sara Duterte on Monday warned of a surge in COVID-19 cases for the months of June and July as the city shifted to general community quarantine (GCQ).
The city has been placed under general community quarantine since May 27 and extended until June 15, 2020, as recommended by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious disease.
Aside from the easing of the lockdown, the delay in contact tracing due to a lack of personnel will also contribute to the rising number of cases.
“We also have instances where they died at their houses,” she said in yesterday’s radio program, which could mean that the number of COVID-19 deaths will also increase.
“So if they were not tested but the doctor will suspect that it was COVID-19, if we want to account for them, the number of deaths will really soar,” she said.
The health screening they conducted in Agdao Public Market yielded nine individuals who were recommended to undergo the swabbing at the Southern Philippines Medical Center. They reportedly failed the rapid diagnostic test.
Also, the mayor revealed that one team of health workers tested positive for COVID-19.
“I really pity our healthcare workers,” she said. “There are so many frontliners infected with COVID-19.”
Once they tested positive, they would have to undergo at least a 14-day quarantine. When that happens, the problems will snowball even with the “next man up” policy of hospitals, particularly with the shortage of healthcare workers.
As of 7 p.m. on May 31, the Department of Health-Davao Center for Health Development reported three new cases of COVID-19 in the region–two from Davao City and one from Davao del Sur–bringing the total to 348. Seven new recoveries in Davao City were also reported, bringing the total to 145 against 30 deaths.
