OCTA urges public to remain cautious as COVID-19 'low-risk' tag does not pertain to people

OCTA Research fellows on Wednesday appealed to citizens to keep following minimum health protocols even if the Department of Health has already classified the country as "low-risk" for COVID-19.

In separate interviews, Professor Ranjit Rye and Dr. Nicanor Austriaco said the DOH was pertaining to the healthcare system and not to people.

“Right now, may hospital capacity tayo, maayos ang situation for the country in general. Pero hindi ibig sabihin low-risk tayo, as individuals. Hindi low-risk ang situation,” Rye told Super Radyo dzBB.

(Right now the general situation in our hospitals is good. But this doesn’t mean that we are at low-risk, as individuals.)

“Mahahawa at mahahawa tayo sa COVID kung tatanggalin natin ang face mask natin. Kung hindi natin susundan ‘yung minimum public health standards,” he added.

(We will get infected with COVID-19 if we remove our masks and if we don’t follow the minimum public health standards.)

For his part, Austriaco said in an ANC interview, “What the DOH is saying is if you look at the numbers, the risk of devastating surge to our healthcare infrastructure is quite low.”

Rye also stressed that many areas in the country are still experiencing surges in COVID-19 infections.

“In-outline na namin ang ilan diyan. May mga iba, pataas ang mga kaso. Andyaan pa ‘yung continuing laban sa Visayas at Mindanao. Mayroon tayong konting active sa Baguio, up north,” he said.

(We outlined some of these areas. Some have rising number cases, like in some areas in the Visayas and Mindanao. We also have some active cases in Baguio City.)

DOH Epidemiology Bureau director Dr. Alethea De Guzman last week said the Philippines has been classified as low-risk for COVID-19.

Based on DOH data, the Philippines’ case growth rate fell to -9% during June 13 to 26 from 15% on May 30 to June 12.

The national utilization rates of hospital and intensive care unit beds, on the other hand, were also in the safe zone at 46.51% and 55.24%, respectively.

DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said classification as a low-risk area does not necessarily mean that Filipinos should be complacent as the threat from the disease still persisted. --KBK, GMA News