STATE OF THE CITY. Mayor Sara Z. Duterte touts the local government's coronavirus disease response 2019 (Covid-19) during her annual State of the City Address (SOCA) on Monday (Nov. 16, 2020). The mayor calls on Dabawenyos to unite behind the city's effort to defeat the virus. (Image courtesy of the City Information Office)
DAVAO CITY – Mayor Sara Z. Duterte highlighted the local government's coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) during her State of the City Address (SOCA) on Monday afternoon, touting the city's "test, trace, and treat" strategies in containing the virus.
The three pillars of Covid-19 response, Mayor Sara said, are complemented by an efficient isolation system and the city's initiative to offer free cremation services for deceased patients.
Duterte also cited the city’s current testing capacity, currently at about 1,200 tests per day.
“We have supported the establishment of two private laboratories and we are rushing the completion of our own Los Amigos Davao Laboratory funded from the Bayanihan Heal as One Act,” she said.
For the trace pillar, she reported that the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) provided some 1,500 personnel to assist in the city’s contact-tracing efforts.
“We also envision to use technology to support the team. We endeavor to catch many of the contacts of a confirmed positive case with the use of the Safe Davao QR (quick response) code," the mayor added.
She said the city currently has 15 Temporary Treatment and Monitoring Facilities (TTMF) with a capacity of 1,171-bed spaces for various types of individuals from positive, suspects, close contacts, and post-swab individuals.
“We also have 601-bed spaces across four (4) facilities supporting our “Test and Wait” initiative for arriving passengers at the Davao International Airport (DIA),” she said.
Duterte said the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) is complemented by three private hospitals to respond to the rising cases for the treatment component.
To further accommodate more cremation requests, Mayor Sara said the city has an ongoing crematorium project at the Wireless Public Cemetery Crematorium.
“It is now on its final stages of testing and training for personnel operations,” Duterte said.
The mayor also offered a reflection on her leadership amid the pandemic, saying she never imagined encountering a severe, worldwide health crisis during her stint as mayor, believing the rest of her term would be as smooth sailing as the previous ones.
“When I started my fresh term as Mayor in July 2019, I mentally prepared myself for emergencies and disasters. No term of mine was ever uneventful, and I did not expect the current one to be smooth sailing, but my wildest dreams never considered a pandemic. As Chief Executive, I have weathered numerous storms but what completely floored me was that I did not see an end to this one,” she said.
Ten months since the declaration of the coronavirus pandemic, she said Davao City remained trapped in "a very peculiar reality just like the rest of the world."
“And we should all manage our expectations because this pandemic will define how we will live our lives for another two years. Maybe more,” she added.
Duterte also encouraged the Dabawenyos to think about ways to reduce the risk of transmission amid the surge of cases in the city.
“This is not only a public health emergency but also an economic and social crisis. Covid-19 will be with us for the foreseeable future. We should expect that it would be a difficult stretch,” she stressed.
"And we, Dabawenyos, we will not break. The deaths, the pain, the debts, and the frustration are sent our way to change us into Dabawenyos, who look at dark clouds and see it as the silver lining," she added. (PNA)
