Governor Daniel Fernando clarified Bulacan province is still under General Community Quarantine (GCQ) with heightened restrictions until August 15, 2021 after the Department of Health detected seven cases of COVID-19 Delta variant.
“Sa takbo po ng sitwasyon nitong mga nakaraang araw, ang naging pahayag ko ay maghanda tayo sapagkat depende po sa sitwasyon, maaari tayong umapela para sa mahigpit na quarantine. Again, depende po ‘yan sa ating magiging sitwasyon na binabantayan natin sa lahat ng sandali,” Fernando said.
Fernando said that after consulting with Bulacan mayors, the decision was made that there will be no hard lockdown in the province to spare businesses and work of Bulakenyos.
“Ang lahat ay nababahala. Bagama’t nais natin ang paghihigpit para sa kaligtasan, ang karamihan sa amin ay naniniwala na hindi natin kakayanin ang bumalik pa sa pinakamahigpit na quarantine. Sisikapin natin na mapababa ang kaso sa pamamagitan ng ating mga naunang direktiba,” he added.
The governor also called for discipline and individual responsibility to beat the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Sa kabila ng ating pananatili sa GCQ with heightened restrictions, may kakaibang paghihigpit ang ating isasagawa. Paiigtingin natin ang ating pagbabantay sa ating borders, pagpapatupad ng minimum health standards. Makakapasok pa rin sa trabaho, ba-byahe pa rin ang nasa transport sector, bukas pa rin ang mga establishment para sa essential services. Ito po lahat ay alinsunod sa itinakda sa atin na community quarantine status,” the governor said.
For his part, Pandi town Mayor Enrico Roque is worried encouraging fellow Bulacan mayors to be aggressive in preventing the spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19. He supports the idea of putting the province in ECQ or MECQ.
Based on Roque’s COVID monitoring teams in several public and private hospitals, it was learned that most of the hospitals were fully accommodated by COVID patients where at least 10 to 50 more infected patients are on the waitlist.
As of Sunday morning, hospitals with COVID patients on waiting list were Nazarenus Hospital with 9 COVID patients; Dr. Yanga Hospital in Bocaue with 33 on waiting list and Ace Hospital in Baliwag with 47 patients under waitlist as well at the Bulacan Medical Center (BMC) in Malolos which is also filled with COVID patients, according to Roque.
Fernando said that the BMC can accommodate 134 Covid patients and under the temporary set-up, it can expand up to 200 hospital beds and 20-30 ICU beds.
“Ayaw ng ibang mga mayors mag-ECQ/ MECQ kasi raw obligado magbigay ng ayuda at hazard pay, hindi kasi nila nakikita yung figure na malapit na tayo sa bilang ng positive cases nung nag-ECQ tayo nitong nakaraang Abril,” Roque said.
He said he support the proposal of Gov. Fernando to place the province under ECQ with some restrictions or MECQ with heightened restrictions.
Roque said that if worse case scenario happened, the local government of Pandi is ready anytime for the distribution of any assistance or “ayuda” if will be needed. It was learned that only the town of Pandi able to conduct and distribute 10 relief operation since pandemic.
The provincial chief executive also warned those persons spreading misinformation whose only aim is to confuse people through distortion of truth.
Provincial Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (PESU) reported 43,352 recovered Covid patients from 46,900 confirmed cases with 970 deaths as of August 7, 2021.