Cebu City to impose stricter health protocols for 1 month as COVID cases surge
CEBU CITY – Stricter health protocols will be enforced for a month to arrest the surging cases of COVID-19 here.
Acting Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama will issue an Executive Order (EO) that will lay down a set of stricter health protocols.
“As soon as I sign the EO, for one month, we will do (these restrictions)...If and when things will improve after one month, we can go back but still, the prevention will never be stopped,” Rama said in a press conference Monday, July 26.
Rama is in-charge at the City Hall while Mayor Edgardo Labella is currently on medical leave.
Rama explained that enforcing tighter protocols for a month is meant to prevent the city from returning to a stricter community quarantine.
For the past several months, this city has been under Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ), the most relaxed form of community quarantine.
“If we do not do our act now, it’s a matter of agreeing. Do we want to be in ECQ (Enhanced Community Quarantine) or do we wish to maintain the Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ)? Let’s bear the brunt for one whole month,” Rama said.
A meeting was held last Sunday in which this city’s current COVID-19 situation was discussed. The meeting was attended by city officials, including those from the Emergency Operations Center (EOC), members of the private sector, and other stakeholders.
The reimposition of the liquor ban and adjusting the curfew from 10 p.m. instead of 11 p.m. were among the topics that were discussed during the multi-sectoral meeting.
In the July 25 bulletin of the Department of Health-Central Visayas (DOH Region 7), the active COVID-19 cases here have climbed to 2,085.
Data from EOC showed that Cebu City’s critical care utilization rate was at 51.5 percent as of July 21. Hospital utilization rates are used to determine the gravity of the outbreak in an area.
Occupancy rates below 60 percent are considered “safe levels.” Occupancy rates that go beyond 80 percent indicate that the healthcare system is starting to get overwhelmed.