An official of the Davao City coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Task Force said that most of the fresh cases of infection in the city are unvaccinated individuals, further emphasizing the importance of vaccination as protection against severe illness and reduce the risk of transmission.

During the COVID-19 Alert program over the Davao City Disaster Radio on Wednesday, Dr. Michelle Schlosser, spokesperson of the Davao City COVID-19 Task Force said that based on their weekly monitoring of the cases, all of the individuals who tested positive last week were all unvaccinated.

“A lot of our cases are actually mild. From November 28 to December 4, I’ve mentioned before, weekly among consolidation, most of them are unvaccinated. Actually, one hundred percent of them na nagkaroon ng COVID are actually unvaccinated (who were infected with COVID-19 are unvaccinated),” she said.

She added that the city maintained its low positivity rate at 0.4 percent, way below the World Health Organization’s (WHO) ideal positivity rate of 5 percent.

The data from the Department of Health (DOH) Davao as of December 8, 2021 shows that Davao City registered 11 new cases, which brings the total number of active cases to 113.

“This is good news kay atong positivity rate nag-pabilin gihapon sa less than one percent or to be specific, 0.4 percent so even with the number of swabees nato, gamay ra gyud atong cases (This is good news because the positivity rate remains less than one percent or to be specific, 0.4 percent. Even with the number of swabees, our cases are still low),” Schlosser said.

While some fully vaccinated individuals are still infected with the virus, the number of partially vaccinated and unvaccinated still dominates the figure.

“The data is showing us na dako ang tyansa nga ma-infect mo kung dili mo bakunado. Although mild lang siya, natakdan gihapon ka. And since mild lang ka, you can still spread it sa imong pamilya, sa imong community, sa imong workplaces. Mas maayo gyud kung naa tay extra protection which is ang bakuna (The data shows us that there is a huge chance that unvaccinated individuals may get infected with the virus. Although it is only mild, they are still infected. And even if it is only mild, they can still spread it to their families, the community, and workplaces. It is best to have an extra layer of protection through vaccination),” she said.

Based on the vaccination report of the Davao City Vaccination Cluster as of December 6, the city has logged a total of 1,009,921 fully vaccinated Dabawenyos with 1,171,050 residents who have been inoculated with their first dose. The city also recorded a total of 10,345 individuals who got their booster shots.

Meanwhile, she further urged the public to safely celebrate Christmas and New Year by observing the minimum public health standard to prevent another surge of cases. She emphasized that the number of cases depends on the behavior of the people. CIO