Lapu-Lapu City hospital occupancy rate leaps into danger zone, says OCTA report

Lapu-Lapu City’s hospital occupancy rate has climbed to 79%, according to a national report by the OCTA Research on Monday, March 1, a range well into the Department of Health’s “danger zone” category.

In an online press briefing in July 2020, DOH Undersecretary Leopoldo Vega, said a critical bed capacity rate of 70% is categorized in the health agency’s protocols as a “danger zone.”

Despite this development, City Epidemiological and Surveillance Unit (CESU) officer Mary Grace Chan-Carungay told Rappler Tuesday, March 2, that the situation in Lapu-Lapu City was “not alarming.”

She added that the city’s isolation facilities have not reached near-maximum capacity.

“The capacity is just one of many variables to be considered, another is the condition and symptoms of the cases admitted which are mostly mild from what we have observed, thus exceeding 70% hospital capacity is not alarming,” she said.

Chan-Carungay added that although the numbers presented by the Octa Research were true, “most of the confirmed positive cases admitted in the hospital are mild. Patients have voluntarily opted to be admitted in the hospital despite experiencing only mild symptoms.”

She said that the high hospital occupancy rate was not a problem since most admitted patients immediately recover and were promptly discharged. She said they accepted even mild case patients, but discharged them at a relatively quick pace.

She said the city has a high recovery rate for mild cases ranging between 80% to 90%.

In Lapu-Lapu city’s health report dated March 1, the city has an 80.1% overall recovery rate. This is an improvement from 79.4% in their February 27 report.

At the moment, the city has dedicated an isolation facility for mild cases in front of the city’s Hoops Dome, located along Humay-Humay Road. This facility has a 64-bed capacity.

“For the meantime, Hoops Dome, itself, is also being utilized as an isolation facility for asymptomatic patients in addition to our Lapu-Lapu City College facility to make sure that we can accommodate more cases,” she said.

The CESU officer said that they would continue exploring more ways to control the situation.

As of this writing, Lapu-Lapu City has recorded 711 active cases, 131 deaths, and 3,383 recoveries. This is a caseload of 4,225 in the city.

Meanwhile, the first batch of Sinovac vaccines for distribution in Cebu province arrived Tuesday morning, March 2, at Mactan International Airport. Around 7,200 shots were brought in. – Rappler.com