BAGUIO CITY - Mayor Benjamin Magalong asked barangay officials to prepare for the long haul as the battle against coronavirus disease (COVID-19) could run for a while longer.
"The COVID-19 vaccine is still a long way. It's more than a year more before we can go back to normal so we have to condition our minds that we are in for a long-term and enduring battle," said Magalong.
To get through it, he told the barangay leaders to continue to level up, and do more innovations.
He said the COVID-19 fight in the city has shifted to the households as seen in the current statistics.
This means that the city's strategies should now target families and neighborhoods to engender a behavioral change in such a way that minimum health standards against the disease becomes part of their way of life.
The City Health Service Office (CHSO) reported that from October 8 to 21, there were 393 existing active cases from 87 barangays in the city.
A graph released by the CHSO showed 15 barangays with the highest number of COVID-19 active cases where the active cases recorded are greater than or equal to 8.
At the top of the list was Barangay Irisan with 32 asymptomatic cases and one mild case; City Camp Proper has 21 asymptomatic cases, and five mild cases; Kias has 23 asymptomatic cases; Dominican Hill Mirador with 15 asymptomatic cases and one mild case.
Barangay Bakakeng Central has nine asymptomatic cases and two mild cases; Fairview Village has seven asymptomatic cases and four mild cases and Bakakeng North and Camp 7 barangays with 11 asymptomatic cases.
Asin Road has 10 asymptomatic cases, Dizon Subdivision has seven asymptomatic cases, and two mild cases. San Luis Village and Gabriela Silang both have six asymptomatic cases but three and two mild cases, respectively; MRR Queen of Peace has eight asymptomatic cases while Lower Rock Quarry and Slaughterhouse Area both have seven asymptomatic cases and one mild case.
The CHSO said there are 49.4 percent active cases, or 194 cases are from these 15 barangays.
Magalong asked the barangay chairpersons to take the lead in implementing the new programs in their areas of jurisdiction which include an information education communication (IEC) campaign, conduct of dialogues and COVID-19 information dissemination in barangay areas which have the potential to become flashpoint or hotspot and the incentivization of barangays that are complying with the health measures.