For the second time since March 2020, Davao City logged a zero COVID-19 case on Sunday, December 19, 2021, which a Davao City Task Force COVID-19 official said is a reason to celebrate.
Davao City Task Force COVID-19 Spokesperson Dr. Michelle Schlosser, in a Viber interview with the City Information Office on Monday, December 2021, said, “We have to celebrate little successes like this.”
The Department of Health Davao COVID-19 Regional Daily Case Bulletin bared that the city has a total of 80 active COVID-19 cases as of December 19, 2021. Of the total 53,874 cases since March 2020, 52,003 have recovered and 1,791 succumbed to the disease.
She attributed this milestone to the management of the COVID-19 response and to the “multifactorial contribution of all the players in managing COVID-19.”
Dr. Schlosser praised Davao City Mayor Inday Sara Duterte, who chairs the Davao City Task Force COVID-19, the city’s health care workers and volunteers from both public and private sectors, Vice Mayor Sebastian Duterte, city councilors, barangay leaders, the private and public sectors for contributing and continue cooperating with the city’s strategies in containing the spread of the infection in the city.
“And finally the public themselves po because through them we were able to hit the latest tally of 92.5 percent coverage to reach the herd immunity for the first dose and 82.15 percent for fully vaccinated,” the city health official said.
She also urged Dabawenyos to work together, adding: “Our goal is to heal as one. We really need each other to maximize our protection against COVID-19.”
Education and information campaigns, according to her, play a major role in the success of the city’s COVID-19 management and response.
In the past week, Davao City logged a total of 18 active COVID-19 cases: two on December 12, three on December 13, four on December 14, one on December 15, four on December 16 and 18, and zero on December 19.
No case bulletin was posted on DOH Davao’s Facebook page on December 17 when most of the region’s areas experience an internet outage.
Dr. Schlosser earlier bared that the city hit its lowest COVID-19 positivity rate since March 2020, currently at 0.5 percent.
She said, “Medyo happy kaayo ta karon, Nagapadayon nga mubo ang atong mga cases. Nagpadayon mubo atong positivity rate unya wala pa tay any case of new variant (We are happy since our COVID-19 cases have remained low. Our positivity rate is also low and we don’t have any case of new variant).”
Thus, she urged Dabawenyos to continue adhering to the minimum public health standards (MPHS), such as the regular wearing of face masks, social distancing, proper hand hygiene, and getting themselves vaccinated as ways to protect them from the coronavirus. CIO