OCTA: Data is checked with situation on the ground

The OCTA Research group on Tuesday assured the public that the data it is releasing on the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is being checked with the situation on the ground.

OCTA fellow Dr. Guido David issued the remark when asked on whether OCTA’s reports were based only on data that has been submitted to the group without qualitative analysis.

“If we’re just basing it on a single data set it could be problematic, but we also confer this with local government data. We don’t have access to all the local government data,” David said in an interview on ANC.

“Those are things we could check. The hospital data and the actual numbers on the ground, we do check that with some local governments,” he later added.

OCTA on Monday said that all local government units in the National Capital Region are now on a downward trend and are at low risk for COVID-19.

David said OCTA bases its data on the covidactnow.org, which he said was developed in the United States with the Harvard Institute, Bloomberg, and Microsoft.

“We depend on the accuracy of the data that we have, so we have to trust the data at some level,” he said.

He said there are four metrics to consider which are the reproduction number, the hospital utilization rate, the positivity rate, and the average daily attack rate.

“Using criteria based on numbers is a universal practice. They do it in the US. So our position that Metro Manila is low risk is based on these criteria,” David said.

“It’s not necessarily reflective of what the Department of Health or the IATF is proclaiming. So we’re not proclaiming it to be the official number,” he added.

David also urged the government to ramp up vaccination in the provinces.

“The amount of vaccinations in the provinces is not as high yet as in the NCR and that’s why we should focus on vaccinating more people in the provinces where vaccine hesitancy is actually higher,” he said.

OCTA earlier projected that daily COVID-19 cases in the country may decrease to 2,000 by the end of November.

Meanwhile, David said OCTA supports the non-wearing of face shields inside movie theaters.

“Face shields, I mean that’s a different topic and that can be discussed… they were discussing about removing the requirement of face shields in theaters because it actually makes sense,” David said.

“We would support it because, I think, the move is to allow only vaccinated people to enter theaters,” he added. 

In September, President Rodrigo Duterte announced that face shields must be worn in areas that are enclosed and crowded.

On Monday, the Philippines logged 3,117 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the nationwide tally to 2,790,375 and active cases to 43,185.—AOL, GMA News