TAGBILARAN CITY – Governor Arthur Yap has designated Sunday, March 15 as provincial day of prayer for Boholanos, as he announced over the weekend the start of community quarantine on Monday (March 16).
“As we begin the community quarantine next week, I offer Bohol and its protection to the Lord, God Almighty. May all Bol-anons join me as we fall on our knees to pray for God’s protection and blessings in these times of fear and sickness. The Lord will not turn us away if we are sincere in seeking his grace and protection,” he said.
Yap ordered community quarantine from March 16 to 20 in an effort to aggressively inform Boholanos on how to protect themselves from the pandemic and prepare the province in the event of local transmission.
He said this is in view of the fast contagion of the virus in the National Capital Region.
Yap hopes that should a local transmission be registered in Bohol, local political and health leaders will know what to do in addressing the people’s needs.
Alarmed by a report that the province’s private and public hospitals can only provide no more than 37-bed capacity for the isolation of possible infected patients, Yap told a gathering of civic leaders over the weekend that “our health system will not be able to cope up with the flow of people seeking medical attention.”
“Only we can save ourselves. Our hospitals will be drowning in people. The rooms and hallways will be more than full. The situation will get even our medical people sick. People need to understand that they can cure themselves at home as long as they stay isolated, drink lots of water, rest, keep clean, keep their surroundings disinfected and take paracetamol since the coronavirus is an influenza strain. There are no medicines or antidotes as of yet. Only those who have exhibited shortness of breath, difficulty in breathing, heavy coughing, colds and fever need be admitted and isolated after due examination by doctors,” Yap said.
In the week that Bohol will be under community quarantine, barangay health workers, village chiefs and the mayors will need to establish a Barangay and Municipal Emergency Plan for the Covid-19 and identify local isolation areas.
Only those most seriously ill will be admitted to hospitals, clinics and centers that are now being converted into special isolation centers to treat the infected. The renovated Capitol Annex and the old Tagbilaran Airport are being considered as additional field hospitals to house those needing to be isolated.
In a related move, Yap also issued Executive Order 9, canceling classes, examinations and all activities in all levels for private and public schools until April 12 upon the unanimous recommendation of the Province’s Panel of Medical Advisers under the 1 Bohol Covid-19 Technical Team and in conjunction with Resolution 11 by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases signed by President Rodrigo Duterte.
Not only students and teachers but all returning residents and visitors arriving in the last 48 hours rushing home to beat the Bohol and Manila quarantines are also being ordered by Yap to stay home for a mandatory 14-day quarantine.
“How do we know that the returning residents or visitors are not carriers of the virus? How do we know if they are merely asymptomatic? To save and protect our community, they must do their part. Staying home for 14 days is a small price to pay for the safety of Bohol,” he said. (PNA)