A Davao City health official urged Dabawenyos anew to get themselves vaccinated and avail themselves of the booster shots after the city has been confirmed to have 75 cases of the highly transmissible COVID-19 variant Omicron as of February 2, 2022.
Davao COVID-19 Task Force Spokesperson Dr. Michelle Schlosser, however, clarified that they have since “clinically recovered” and a repeat of the PDITR (prevent, detect, isolation, treat, reintegration) strategy is currently being conducted for these cases.
Of the 75 Omicron cases in Davao City, 65 are local cases and 10 are returning overseas Filipinos (ROFs).
Schlosser said during the Bida Bakunado program of 87.5 FM Davao City Disaster Radio (DCDR) on Friday afternoon, February 4, 2022, that “Technically, kani sya nga mga specimen more than a month ago pa ni sya (These specimens are technically taken more than a month ago).
“That’s the downside of the whole genome sequencing kay ang specimen before nila ma-read, it will take three weeks to one month. When ma-receive nato ni nga information, technically clinically recovered na ang atoang mga patients, especially now that we have this vaccination and then we have shortened isolation (That’s the downside of the whole genome sequencing because it would take three weeks to one month before they read the specimens. So when we receive the information, our patients have technically clinically recovered, especially now that we have this vaccination and then we have shortened isolation),” Dr. Schlosser said.
She added that once DOH identifies a COVID-19 case as a new variant, he or she will have to undergo a repeat swabbing, repeat contact tracing, and repeat isolation to make sure there is no ongoing transmission.
Although there is no death reported yet with an Omicron case in the city, Dr. Schlosser said she will have to verify it with the DOH Davao.
She attributed the local Omicron cases as may be coming from other regions since the mandatory RT-PCR negative test requirement upon entry to Davao City has already been lifted and only arriving international flights passengers are required to present a negative RT-PCR test taken within 72 hours before their flight for Davao.
Dr. Schlosser has reiterated the need for Dabawenyos to get vaccinated and get their booster shots. “Ten times more transmissible kasi ang Omicron variant and exponential iyang number na maka-infect compared to other variants (The Omicron variant is 10 times more transmissible and it can infect an exponential number compared to other variants).”
Check out the city’s operational vaccination sites for the first dose, second dose, missed dose, and booster shots at
https://www.facebook.com/davaocitygov/posts/5117916848259796. CIO
