Shorter quarantine
With more COVID-19 cases being tallied every day, Cebu City’s Emergency Operations Center is studying the possibility of shortening the number of quarantine days – from 14 to 10 – for those isolated in the city’s facilities.
This is so the quarantine facilities will not be overwhelmed by the continued increase in cases.
Cebu City currently has 1,738 active cases, the highest since August 8, 2020. It recorded 128 new cases on Feb. 3 based on the Department of Health-7 case bulletin.
As the cases continue to spike, the EOC has already reopened three barangay isolation centers and the Cebu City Quarantine Center after the Noah Complex had reached its full capacity at 400. The 135-bed IC3 in Barangay Mabolo is also now housing nearly a hundred patients.
Despite these reopened facilities, the EOC still has some backlogs, according to deputy chief implementer and Cebu City Councilor Joel Garganera.
Garganera, however, clarified that they have yet to get the Department of Health’s say on the proposal.
Should this materialize, the 10-day count would start from the time of swabbing. After the 10th day and when the patient is not showing any symptoms, the patient will be released from the isolation facility to complete the 14day quarantine at home.
Under DOH’s interim guidelines on the discharge criteria for suspect, probable, and confirmed COVID-19 cases, patients with mild symptoms who have completed at least 10 days of isolation from the onset of illness, either at home or a temporary treatment and monitoring facility inclusive of three days of being clinically recovered and asymptomatic, can be discharged and reintegrated to the community.
There is also no need for further testing, provided that a licensed medical doctor clears the patient.
Confirmed cases with mild symptoms can be tagged as recovered once discharge criteria are met.
On the other hand, asymptomatic immunocompetent individuals who test PCR positive (+) and remained asymptomatic for at least 10 days from date of specimen collection can also discontinue isolation after 10 days and be tagged as a recovered confirmed case without need for further testing, provided a licensed medical doctor certifies or clears the patient.
For close contacts who remain asymptomatic for at least 14 days from date of exposure, they can discontinue their quarantine without the need of any test as well.
GETTING PHILHEALTH NOD
Garganera said he will discuss the matter with the Noah Complex management but Dr. Peter Mancao, one of the medical directors at the DOH-accredited complex, said the EOC has to seek PhilHealth’s approval first.
Patients at the complex are not paying for their stay, thanks to a public-private partnership scheme. The private sector provides the space, materials and supplies while the city government and the DOH provide the needed manpower.
The expenses incurred in the maintenance and operation of the complex will be reimbursed by PhilHealth. However, it was learned that the agreement with health insurer specifically provides that the patients complete the 14-day quarantine at the facility for the management to be reimbursed.
MORE FACILITIES NEEDED
Apart from trimming the isolation down to 10 days, the EOC is also exploring the possibility of getting more hotels as isolation centers. Garganera said they have talked with the Hotels, Resorts and Restaurants Association of Cebu Inc. on the matter.
If the hotels are amenable to the arrangement, EOC will facilitate for their accreditation with the City Health Department and the DOH.
More schools are also being prepared as BICS so that the extraction backlogs can be finally addressed, said Garganera. He could not confirm yesterday, though, how many patients need to be taken out of their homes and put in isolation.
DOUBLING THE EFFORTS
Meanwhile, EOC consultant and infectious diseases specialist Dr. Bryan Albert Lim reminded Cebuanos that efforts to protect the elderly and the sick need to be doubled as they have a higher chance of dying.
“Let us do what we can so that the young and healthy do not spread COVID to the vulnerable,” said Lim on Facebook.
Lim said that as protection to the vulnerable ones, there should be separate sleeping areas for the elderly and those with co-morbidities from the more mobile young members of the family. Sleeping together, he said, poses a high risk since masks are not worn when sleeping.
When sharing the living room, young people are also encouraged to wear masks, especially if the elders are not comfortable with wearing theirs. Electric fans are best positioned behind the elders so air will flow from the elders to the young people and out the door or window.
Lim said elders also need to be reminded not avoid mingling and talking with neighbors or, if not, to wear double masks and a face shield and observe physical distancing.
“The vaccines are almost here. Let us not risk infecting the vulnerable. Let us keep our hospitalization rates low, and our deaths even lower. We can live with the virus. We are all frontliners. We can choose both health and livelihood,” Lim said.