Mayor urges residents to get their Covid-19 booster shots

Echoing the call of Pres. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Mayor Benjamin Magalong is encouraging residents to get their first and second booster shots as added protection against the ongoing Coronavirus disease 2019 while continuing ad to minimum public health standards.

Despite the Summer Capital’s ‘very manageable’ Covid 19 situation at present, the Mayor assured that city government and health officials are continuously on the move in monitoring and managing cases.

“Most of our current cases are mild and asymptomatic with no severe infections so far. However, we need to monitor this latest B.5 subvariant since it is 18 times more transmissible than the other variants but infections have been mild so there is no need to panic,” the Mayor stressed.      

He is discouraging residents from handshaking but to use their elbows instead, avoid crowds and observe social distancing, wear face masks, and practice good personal hygiene like frequent washing of hands with water and soap or alcohol.

Magalong supports the President’s appeal for the public to get their Covid-19 jabs as the latter ordered the Department of Health to intensify its campaign in encouraging the public to get their booster shots.

During the regular management committee meeting of local officials led by the Mayor at City Hall, July 19, City Health Officer Dr. Rowena Galpo said that the city continues to be at ‘low risk’ status in terms of Covid-19 infections.

She said the city’s positivity rate for the past two weeks is 7.8 percent; average daily attack rate is 4.4/100,000; a zero percent two-week growth rate (219-220); and a weekly infection rate of 1.04.As of July 18, the city’s hospital critical utilization rate is 8.44 percent (32/379) and isolation facility bed occupancy at 12.73 percent (35/275) while average tests done in the past two weeks is 271, Galpo said. – Gaby B. Keith