Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 22)— Northern Samar will ask the national government to reconsider its decision to raise the province to Alert Level 4 — the second-highest in the country’s COVID-19 alert level system.
In the Laging Handa briefing, provincial health officer Dr. Ninfa Caparroso-Kam said local authorities will ask the Inter-Agency Task Force for a lower alert level classification. She added they have the data to back up the request.
“Iyon ang napagkasunduan na ia-attach namin iyong aming statistics, and then we are going to appeal to the IATF para ma-reclassify ang aming probinsiya to Level 3 just like before,” Caparroso-Kam said.
“Dahil kung ikukumpara iyong aming statistics with the other provinces [in] the region, we are better off,” she added. “If you look at our statistics, hindi kami dapat nandoon sa Alert Level 4.”
[Translation: That’s what was discussed, that we’ll attach our statistics, and then we are going to appeal to the IATF to reclassify our province to Alert Level 3 just like before. Because if you compare our statistics with the other provinces in the region, we are better off. If you look at our statistics, we shouldn’t be under Alert Level 4.]
Northern Samar was one of the four provinces that shifted to Alert Level 4 on Friday — together with Kalinga, Ifugao, and Mountain Province. Caparroso-Kam admitted the LGU was “surprised” with the IATF’s move, adding the development “adds insult to the injury.”
She explained that the province’s COVID-19 case doubling time and average daily attack rate are far from critical levels.
On Friday, Northern Samar logged 455 new coronavirus infections — slightly higher than the 359 fresh cases recorded the day before.
DOH explains
In the same briefing, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire explained that one of the basis for the new classification was the province’s healthcare utilization rate.
She said Northern Samar has already filled up 80% of its bed capacity for COVID-19 patients.
“Sa ngayon po nasa high risk na po ang kanilang healthcare utilization,” Vergeire said. “So para po maibsan at saka ma-control muna ang pagdami ng kaso at ma-manage natin ang kanilang healthcare systems capacity kaya po napagdesisyunan na i-escalate sila because they’ve reached the metrics already.”
[Translation: As of the moment, their healthcare utilization rate is under high risk. So in order to alleviate the situation and control the cases, and to manage their healthcare systems capacity, we decided to escalate them because they’ve reached the metrics already.]
