Davao City has hit a record-high 30.5 positivity rate of COVID-19 infections mostly coming from household transmissions.
Given this, Dabawenyos are advised to cut on family and social gatherings, to be vigilant and disciplined in following the minimum health measures, and to get vaccinated.
Davao City COVID-19 Task Force Spokesperson Dr. Michelle Schlosser, during the COVID-19 Alert program of 87.5 Davao City Disaster Radio (DCDR) on Wednesday said the positivity rate is very high than the acceptable level.
“Ang pinaka acceptable level is five below. Medyo taas jud sya (The acceptable level of positivity rate is five below. So the 30.5 is quite high),” she said.
As of September 1, 2021, Davao City logged 443 new COVID-19 cases, raising its total of active cases to 5,626.
The city’s total COVID-19 cases reached 38,110 and of this number, 31,272 have recovered and 1,212 have died.
Reiterating the importance of following measures to stem transmission of the Sars-CoV-2 virus, Schlosser said the public must continue wearing face mask at all times, avoiding gatherings and crowded places, social distancing, frequent hand hygiene, and getting vaccinated.
Schlosser said, “Our data shows daghang mga household transmissions, meaning katong sa mga kapamilyahan diha nga nagahold na og gatherings, mamalihog intawon mi, iavoid sa nato siguro ang pagcelebrate sa atong mga birthday og pag create og family gatherings (there are a lot of household transmissions, meaning those families who have already been holding gatherings, please let us avoid celebrating our birthdays or creating family gatherings).”
She said it is a difficult request considering that Filipinos are sociable by nature and love to get together with their families.
“Pero this is not the right time to do that kay daghan gyud kaayo ta og cases and with the presence of the Delta variant, considered to be highly transmissible compared sa other variants, holding a gathering or social gathering sa atong families and friends is medyo high risk nga behavior at the moment (This is not the right time to do that because we have too many COVID-19 cases and with the presence of the Delta variant, considered to be highly transmissible compared to other variants, holding a gathering or social gathering with our families and friends is a high-risk behavior at the moment),” the city health official said.
She added that enforcing household lockdowns in the past months proved to be effective.
Due to the surge of household transmission cases, they are mobilizing the barangay health emergency response teams (BHERTs) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to strengthen the household lockdowns.
Schlosser said, “Dili lang isa ka myembro sa pamilya ang infected, tag duha, tag tulo, tag upat, o ang entire family. Mas daghang household transmission bantug mas daghan tang household lockdown (It is not just one family member is infected but two, or three, or four, and sometimes the entire family. With a lot of household transmissions that’s why we have more household lockdowns).” CIO
