Private hospitals are prepared for the possible surge in cases of COVID-19 should the alert level be downgraded to 1, said Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines, Inc. (PHAPi) president Dr. Jose Rene D. De Grano.

In a “Laging Handa” briefing on Thursday, Feb. 24, De Grano disclosed that the utilization rate of private hospitals is currently below 30 percent.

“Karamihan po ng ating nahawang healthcare workers ay nakabalik na. Iyon naman po kasing pagkakahawa ay community acquired, sa labas nila nakuha (Most of the healthcare workers who got infected have already returned to work. Their infection is community acquired, meaning they got it from outside),” he added.

Meanwhile, for PHAPi, the government should wait for two more weeks before deciding to downgrade to Alert Level 1 or the most relaxed quarantine level.

“Sa amin po rekomendasyon naming ay kung maari maghintay tayo ng another two weeks, pero kung iyon po ang desisyong ng IATF ay susunod naman po kami (For us, of it is possible, let’s wait for another two weeks, but if that is the decision of the IATF, we will abide),” De Grano said when asked if PHAPi agrees with the recommendation of Metro Manila mayors to downgrade the alert level of the metropolis.

He noted that “the number of cases of COVID-19 in the country is still high, although the symptoms are not as severe as the Delta variant.”

The PHAPi president is worried that the public will be very relaxed to the point that they no longer practice minimum health protocols once the alert level is downgraded, especially now that there are political sorties.

“Worried kami na baka after this na luwagan natin nang masyado at ang mga tao ay hindi na sumunod sa minimum health protocols ay baka bigla tayong magkaroon ulit ng surge. Kasi ganoon po ang nangyari, before Christmas talagang ang baba na ng kaso pero after Christmas ay nagkaroon ng surge (We are worried that after the alert level is loosen, people will no longer practice minimum health and safety protocols that would eventually lead to a spike in number of COVID-19 cases. That’s what happened before Christmas, our cases were very low, but it went up after Christmas),” De Grano expressed.

“Ang mga hospital naman po ay handa. Karamihan naman po Omicron cases hanggang moderate lang. Ngayon ang kinakatakot namin paano ang mga mga hindi bakunado, ‘yung mga with comorbidties dahil madali silang mahawaan (The hospitals are prepared. Most of cases are Omicron and they are just moderate. We are afraid for those who are unvaccinated and for those with comorbidities as they can get easily infected),” he added.

With this, the PHAPi president urged the public to get inoculated against COVID-19 and avail of booster shots to protect themselves from the dreaded disease which has already claimed many lives.

Based on the data of the Department of Health, the country has a total of 55,449 active cases of COVID-19 as of Feb. 3, 2022.