Make sure your barangay officials are informed or invited in birthdays and other social gatherings.
The city government has regulated the conduct of social gatherings from Sept. 30 until Oct. 14, following the clustering of Covid-19 cases in two barangays in the last week of September.
In Executive Order 136, s. 2020, Mayor Benjamin Magalong has required that private social gatherings must be coordinated with the city government or with barangay officials.
The EO allows family gatherings to celebrate milestones like birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, or gatherings to mourn departed loved ones, and other non-work related events held in hotels and conferences halls, but the venues must first be inspected by the City Health Services Office and approved by the Mayor’s Office.
The same kind of gatherings is allowed at home, provided that barangay officials are notified and basic health protocols must be observed.
Magalong has imposed the regulation after data from contact tracing showed that social gatherings in homes and in enclosed spaces with poor ventilations and where participants did not strictly comply with the basic health protocols were the common factors that caused the spike in the number and clustering of Covid-19 cases in the last week of September.
He also encouraged that gatherings be limited to immediate family members who are not immune-compromised or those who do not have underlying health conditions.
As of Oct. 1, Baguio recorded 977 cases – 432 are active, 531 recoveries, and 14 deaths. The two senior citizens who died on Oct. 1 had pre-existing illnesses. There were 29 cases recorded on this day.
The city’s first record-high number of cases was on Sept. 28, which registered 68, of which 57 are police trainees with quarters at Lower Lourdes Subdivision
The same number was recorded on Sept. 29, of which 65 are contacts of previous positive cases – 16 contacts from Sto. Niño Slaughterhouse and nine from Lower Lourdes Subdivision.
On Sept. 27, 44 cases were recorded; Sept. 26, 39 cases; Sept. 25, 15; Sept. 24, 52; Sept. 23, 23; and Sept. 22, 27 cases.
Covid-19 cases have been steadily on the rise as the city government also continues to expand its testing to various sectors and while Baguio is preparing for the arrival of visitors from Region 1.
In a press conference on Oct. 1, Magalong said the high number of cases recorded in the city was due to an outbreak in the two barangays – Sto. Niño-Slaughterhouse and Lower Lourdes Subdivision.
“But we were able to contain that with aggressive testing and contact tracing. We assure our residents and visitors that the local government of Baguio is on top of the situation,” he said.
In the Cordillera, the number of cases as of 5 p.m. of Oct. 1 is 1,655. Of this number, 542 are active cases; 1,095 are recoveries; and 18 are deaths. – Jane B. Cadalig
