‘Stay vigilant despite decreasing Covid cases’; Bacolod gov’t confirms Delta variant infections in city

Even with the steady decrease in coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases in Bacolod in the past two weeks, City Mayor Evelio Leonardia said the fact that the transmission remains difficult to predict should prompt residents to stay vigilant.

“It’s been a roller coaster ride with Covid-19 since early last year,” the mayor said yesterday.

[Just hours after calling on Bacolodnons to be vigilant despite decreasing cases, the mayor announced the two cases of Delta variant in the city.]

Leonardia said the decline in cases is so much welcome in the city, considering the surge in cases in other areas, but the public “should not let their guard down because the pattern of infections is unpredictable”.

Earlier, the mayor said people should not be complacent just because the city’s numbers have dropped because the Covid-19 historical sketch of Bacolod shows that its cases have been going up and down.

Based on real-time data of the Emergency Operations Center-Task Force (EOC-TF), Bacolod logged only two-digit new cases in the last 14 days, with an average of 36 cases per day.

Last June, the city recorded three-digit new cases per day, averaging 119 cases daily, but new cases dropped to about 73 daily in July.

City Administrator Em Ang, concurrent executive director of the EOC-TF, said while Bacolod is under general community quarantine with heightened restrictions (GCQ-HR) status, the public is discouraged from attending mass gatherings that could be “super spreaders” of the virus.

“Our compliance means we are not only protecting ourselves but also our families and the community as well,” she added.

Ang noted that since Covid-19 was declared a pandemic, the city’s cases have peaked at 15,978, with 15,124 recoveries, or a recovery rate of 94.66 percent.

As of August 11, Bacolod only has 467 active cases while in July, the city had 1,934 and 913 in June.* (Nanette Guadalquiver)