SUMMARY
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The Department of Health (DOH) said on Thursday, December 17, that the hospital occupancy rate in the country for COVID-19 is still “low-risk” as Christmas approaches.
“Based on our data, [it] is still low-risk at about 36%, nationally. And even in the National Capital Region, it’s still not rising, still at low-risk level,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a virtual press briefing.
Vergeire, however, noted that while there’s no surge yet, they are already seeing a rise in cases in different parts of the country.
“Kung hindi man tumataas, may mga areas po na nag-plateau na. For now, tayo ay nagpe-prepare na kung magiging malaki ba ang epekto ng pagtaas sa ating bansa,” she said.
(If it’s not increasing, there are areas where cases have already plateaued. For now, we’re preparing if the rise in cases in the country would have a big effect.)
In virus epicenter Metro Manila, hospitals in Makati City have already reached critical levels.
‘Preparing the system’
Vergeire said that the DOH would rather err on the side of caution “because if and when the surge will happen” the country needs to have all hospitals ready.
“We need to have all hospitals enforcing or being compliant to this mandated 30% and 20% dedicated beds for hospitals,” Vergeire said, noting that they don’t want a repeat the nearly overwhelmed healthcare system when COVID-19 cases in the country saw a spike from July to August.
“If you remember our situation in the July to August increase in the number of cases, we have our system nearly overwhelmed and we don’t like that to happen again,” she added.
On December 9, the DOH warned private hospitals to start increasing beds for COVID-19 patients to prepare for a possible surge in coronavirus cases after the holidays.
In a statement, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said the country’s health system “should also ensure its continued preparation for a possible post-holiday surge.”
Last July, the DOH revised its order mandating public hospitals to set aside at least 30% of their facilities for COVID-19 patients. In private hospitals, the agency mandated that they set aside at least 20% of their beds to COVID-19 patients.
Duque said that as of December 7, the DOH recorded a “nationwide average of 30% hospital bed allocation in public hospitals and 13% for private.” It was only in the Caraga region where private hospitals met the minimum number of beds to be allocated in private hospitals, he added.
Meanwhile, Dr Dans Antonio of the Health Professionals Alliance Against COVID-19 said emergency units of hospitals would be the first to detect any case surge. He noted that people who go to the ER do not get admitted right away and are not reflected in the occupancy rate.
University of the Philippines professor Guido David of the Octa Research Group said on December 14 that COVID-19 was spreading faster in virus epicenter Metro Manila as Christmas neared.
The reproduction rate (R) – the number of people that one COVID-19 positive case can infect – is now at 1.06 in Metro Manila, according to David.
As of Thursday, the Philippines has 454,447 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with
8,850 deaths and 419,902 recoveries. – Rappler.com
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