COVID-19 PATIENTS WITH ‘MILD CASES’ HAVE 85% CHANCE OF RECOVERY

COVID-19 is not necessarily a death sentence.

Mayor Oscar S. Moreno yesterday said government doctors here reviewed the city’s data on COVID-19 cases and noted that patients with mild cases have an 80% to 85% chance of recovery.

Quoting government doctors, Moreno said those who recovered were the ones who received proper medical treatment while on quarantine.

He also stressed the need for good nutrition and plenty of rest that come with the quarantine in isolation facilities.

Dr. Joselito Retuya, city epidemiologist, confirmed that the city’s data on COVID-19 cases show that patients with mild cases are likely to recover.

Mayor Moreno said he learned many things while listening to the advice of government doctors on the frontlines in the fight against COVID-19.

He narrated that when the city recorded its first COVID-19 death in Pinikitan, Barangay Camaman-an,

he quickly asked that the victim’s infected husband, child, and grandchild be brought immediately to the Northern Mindanao Medical Center (NMMC) but he was prevailed upon by Dr. Retuya and Dr. Ian Gonzales of the Department of Health (DOH).

Instead, the two doctors told the mayor the infected family members should merely be brought to isolation units for observation because they were all asymptomatic.

Mayor Moreno said Retuya and Gonzales were correct because the three subsequently recovered while on quarantine.

All of them, he said, are asymptomatic and are receiving care in isolation facilities.

Since March, Cagayan de Oro recorded 21 COVID-19 cases. Of the 21 patients, six died and six others recovered.

There are nine active COVID-19 cases in the city now, and only one patient has been admitted to the NMMC.

Doctors noted that those who died had comorbidities: hypertension, cancer, diabetes, and pneumonia, among others.