Increase in COVID-19 cases ‘like deja vu’ — Sta. Ana Hospital exec

The medical director of the Sta. Ana Hospital on Friday likened the fresh uptick in COVID-19 cases to a “deja vu” or a repeat of the March 2020 surge.

In an interview on Super Radyo dzBB, Dr. Grace Padilla said 120 of the 150 COVID-19 beds at their hospital are occupied as of Friday, up from 95 patients just the day before.

“Para kaming bumalik sa March 2020. Parang na-deja vu tayo (It’s like we went back to March 2020. It’s like we got deja vu),” she said.

Padilla said the Sta. Ana Hospital coordinates with the Tala Hospital and Philippine General Hospital, two major COVID-19 referral centers, to manage the “influx” of patients.

She said that unlike last year, however, they have been seeing more COVID-19 patients who belong to the pediatric age group.

“‘Yun din ‘yung kinakabahan kami kasi pati mga bata. Even the teenagers, kasi pedia pa rin hanggang 18 years old. So mga teenagers din ay affected ngayon na previously, ‘yung mga two surges, wala kaming nakikitang mga bata,” she said.

(That’s what we’re concerned about because even kids are getting infected. Even the teenagers, since 18-year-olds are still in the pediatric age group. So even teenagers are affected now when previously, in the past two surges, we didn’t see any kids.)

The Department of Health (DOH) earlier said that COVID-19 cases have been rising across all age groups, not just among children. 

Meanwhile, Padilla said the Sta. Ana Hospital has already sent a request for health worker augmentation to the DOH.

The medical director also said they are more equipped to handle COVID-19 patients now compared to last year.

“Ngayon we are equipped. They are very confident na ngayon na mag-manage ng ating [cases] (Now we are equipped. They are very confident in managing cases),” she said.

The Philippines is battling a renewed increase in infections amid local transmission of the highly contagious Delta coronavirus variant, which has so far been detected in 627 cases. 

The country has logged over 1.7 million cases with 1.58 million recoveries and 29,539 deaths as of Thursday afternoon.  — Julia Mari Ornedo/RSJ, GMA News