Negros Occidental Provincial Administrator, Atty. Rayfrando Diaz, said it is still risky to resume the operations of public transport from Negros Oriental.
Diaz cited the latest assessment of members of the Provincial Incident Management Team that COVID cases in Negros Oriental are still high, and that the province remains at Alert Level 4 while Negros Occidental is now under Alert Level 2.
He said it will be counterproductive if the PIMT allows public transport, like the Ceres buses, to resume trips since the two provinces are bound by their respective protocols.
The PIMT will again meet with representatives from the Vallacar Transit Inc., operator of Ceres buses, if conditions improved. The company earlier requested the province to allow the resumption of trips from Negros Oriental.
Diaz added it is also advisable to retain the policy that travellers in private cars from Negros Oriental must be registered with S-PaSS and present their full vaccination cards.
Meanwhile, the number of COVID patients in hospitals and those in quarantine facilities is continuously decreasing.
The EB Magalona Healing Center has 52 patients, while the Silay Healing Center is housing 22.
The hospital admission rate, as of Oct. 24, showed that Cadiz District Hospital has 16 cases, or 79 percent of its COVID-allotted beds occupied, Valladolid District Hospital has 69 percent or 27 patients, and the Valeriano Gatuslao District Hospital in Himamaylan City is 74 percent occupied, or with 38 patients.
Diaz also said that Negros Occidental has enough vaccines of Moderna and Sinovac brands. More than 70,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine have been administered and all local government units received the Moderna brand for their vaccination rollout.
Negros Occidental aims to vaccinate 1.4 million residents. As of Oct. 24, more than 417,000 have received the vaccines, and officials target to better the performance, with the big volume of anti-COVID shots that arrived recently and the full swing vaccination activities in all towns and cities.
Diaz said local government units with high output of vaccination will be prioritized in the vaccine rollout. — MML
