5 September 2022
Two weeks after the resumption of face-to-face classes on all academic levels, the City Health Office has detected several cases of infection among students from a number of medical schools in Davao City.
CHO Head Dr. Ashley Lopez, in an interview with the City Information Office on Monday, said that based on their latest monitoring, a number of medical students were reportedly infected with COVID, most of whom are fourth year students who are required to take RT-PCR tests before being allowed to attend classes.
The number of cases makes up less than 10 per cent of the entire student population of Davao City, said Lopez. The students either showed no symptoms or manifested very mild ones.
“These are seemingly asymptomatic to mild cases so they are not required hospitalization. And most of them mag-undergo lang og (will only need to undergo) seven days of isolation in their homes or quarantining, then after that, they can go back to class,” Lopez said.
Lopez said the cases detected since the resumption of face-to-face classes in August 22 are no cause for alarm. He said there is very little possibility of suspending the face-to-face modality of classes due to the reported infection cases.
“So far wala man ta’y gina-consider na ingana because although we still have numbers for cases of COVID, dili na man siya grabe. Ma-manage na man nato’g maayo in case naa’y infections gyud. (So far, we are not considering something like that [face-to-face classes suspension] because although we still have cases of COVID, they are not that many. We can now efficiently manage in the event of more infections),” he said.
Although vaccination remains voluntary, Lopez reiterated that his office strongly encourages all Dabawenyos, especially students, to get vaccinated. He said the city will continue to mobilize its vaccination campaign in all public and private schools.
“It’s not mandatory that’s why we cannot impose na mahimo na siyang requirement sa school, although we highly encourage that even for teachers and admin staff and even parents. We highly encourage them to have their vaccination,” Lopez said.
Vaccination hubs will also be operational on Sundays for the whole month of September.
At least 600 free testing per day are being conducted by the CHO as part of the city’s COVID surveillance measures.
The City Health Office is also monitoring infection cases after the Kadayawan festivities. CIO
