DAVAO CITY — Despite the dramatic drop in the cases of COVID-19 in the city, non-essential gatherings, including the holding of Christmas parties, are still not allowed.
Citing reports from the prevention and enforcement cluster during the recent meeting of the COVID-19 Task Force, City Mayor Sara Duterte said under Alert Level 2, parties are not among the allowed Private Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Events (MICE).
“Ang sa private establishments, guided by IATF under Alert Level 2 and sa DTI. But from what I understand, sa prevention and enforcement cluster, dili apil ang parties sa mga allowed nga MICE events dinha sa mga establishments (For the private establishments, they are guided by the COVID-19 Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). But from what I understand, as per prevention and enforcement cluster, parties are not allowed in MICE even for private establishments),” Duterte said.
Duterte said these include hiring a venue and holding events in restaurants as they are still deemed “non-essential”.
“We do not know kung mag Alert Level 1, magbag-o siya. But atoa sa Alert Level 2, dili na siya apil sa mga MICE events per the report of the prevention and enforcement group sa COVID-19 (We do not know if there will be changes once we are placed in Alert Level 1. But in our Alert Level 2, parties are not included in MICE events as per the report of the COVID-19 prevention and enforcement group),” Duterte said.
She said the city government's Executive Order No. 43 prohibits non-essential events in all barangay, local and national government offices, including government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) based in this city until December 31.
On Wednesday, Nov. 24, Davao City COVID-19 Task Force spokesperson Dr. Michelle Schlosser said the city's positivity rate is below 1%.
"Ang atoang positivity rate halos dili makaabot og one percent (Our positivity rate is below one percent)," she said.
Schlosser said despite the guidelines set by the national government, the city has an existing guideline that prohibits non-essential activities like parties.
“With that, medyo dili siya sakto sa Alert Level 2 nga gina-follow nato so karon naay separate meeting that will be conducted para ma-harmonized ang guidelines when it comes to gatherings (There are some guidelines that we are not following under Alert Level 2. So, we will conduct a separate meeting to harmonize the guidelines of the city when it comes to gatherings),” she said.
As of Nov. 24, the Department of Health Davao Center for Health Development reported 32 new cases of COVID-19 in the region. The region's current active cases is 1,123.
Of these new cases, Davao City recorded 10 cases bringing the total number of active cases here to 231.
Schlosser said as of Nov. 22, a total of 1,030,577 Dabawenyos or 79.28% of the 1.2 million target her immunity received first doses, while 916,966 or 70.54% received second doses.
Schlosser said the COVID-19 Task Force will hold another meeting to clarify if parties would be allowed or not with the new quarantine classification.