BAGUIO CITY – The City Health Services Office (CHSO) reported a dramatic increase in Covid-19 positivity rate despite the city’s being at a low risk (level 1) status.
City health officer Dr. Rowena Galpo reported that the city’s Covid-19 positivity rate leapfrogged from 18.57 to 26.24 percent for the past two weeks.
The city’s average daily attack rate during the same period also increased from 4.6/100,000 to 6/100,000.
Galpo said the city’s two-week growth rate was recorded at 44 percetn from 41 percent, and its weekly infection rate improved a little from 1.60 to 1.20.
Baguio’s hospital critical utilization rate shot up from 19.79 to 30.87 percent while its isolation facility bed occupancy went up from 5.6 to 5.99 percent (16/267).
Galpo disclosed that the city’s average tests (RTPCR) during the two-week span slightly decreased from 108 to 102.
Meanwhile, Mayor Benjamin Magalong has expressed alarm over the increase in deaths among unvaccinated and ‘unboostered’ individuals in the city due to Covid-19.
The City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit of the City Health Services Office revealed that Covid-19 death incidents tripled from October to November and the fatalities were either unvaccinated or without ‘booster.’
Data from the Baguio City Health Services Department and the UP Baguio showed that nine out of ten Covid-19 deaths in Baguio from December 2021 to present were also not vaccinated or did not receive supplementary shots.
Majority of the deaths belonged to 50 years old and above.
Magalong said these data once again proved the importance of vaccines in preventing severe disease and deaths due to Covid-19.
The UP Baguio and the CHSO also bared data on the proportion of cases who died by age and vaccination status which showed that Covid-19 death is highest among those unvaccinated and without booster.
Magalong stressed that the city has been experiencing a spike in Covid-19 cases in the past two weeks and this may be driven by the presence of the omicron subvariant XBC, a recombinant of the delta variant and omicron BA.5 subvariant.
The CESU also confirmed the presence of subvariant BQ1 omicron subvariant which like XBC is known to be more transmissible and poses higher risk of reinfection.