This Week in Northern Luzon (November 21 to 27, 2020)

Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong issued an executive order that implements a strict stay-at-home restriction for all people over the age of 65 years old starting November 17 to November 27, 2020. The said people will only be allowed to go outside for the following circumstances:

• purposes of work

• seeking medical attention

• when they have no other non high-risk relatives or acquaintances to assist them in acquiring basic needs

All non-work related social gatherings and activities for senior citizens are also suspended during the given period. The Office of the Senior Citizen Affairs shall be closed for activities and physical or walk-in transactions during this period. However, a skeletal workforce will be allowed to report for duty to address immediate concerns. [1]

OCTA Research has classified nine local government units in the country as “high risk areas” for COVID-19. Based on the research group’s monitoring report, the following LGUs were placed under this classification:

• Makati

• Baguio City

• La Trinidad, Benguet

• Itogon, Benguet

• Batangas City

• Lucena, Quezon

• Lopez, Quezon

• Davao City, Davao del Sur

• Pagadian, Zamboanga del Sur

These areas were considered high-risk based on the high cases per day, high positivity rate, high attack rate, and/or high hospital occupancy. The OCTA Research group added that the mentioned areas might experience a high hospital burden in the weeks to come that may overwhelm their medical frontliners and stress their health system. As such, they urged the LGUs to intensify their testing, contact tracing, and isolation efforts to slow down the increase and transmission of the virus in their communities. Implementation of aggressive and effective localized lockdowns are also needed to help control the transmissions. [2]

Mayor Benjamin Magalong has urged all city hall officials to register in the Baguio In My Pocket or BIMP program, a system that allows contactless transactions, among other benefits. BIMP is a smart phone application and web portal developed to help the city digitize its governance. The mobile app can also aid the city in achieving a “SMART City” status where all problems can be addressed and solved with the aid of technology, including bringing basic services to the public. While the registration in the application is voluntary, Magalong said that those working in the government must lead by example and register so the citizens will be encouraged to follow.

The said application will also help Baguio with its intensified contact tracing process. Information Technology Business Solutions Operations Manager MJ Barin added that only basic information is needed and proper measures have been put in place to make sure all data is secured. [3]

The city officials of Baguio have requested for Vivencio Dizon, the country’s testing czar, to partner with food delivery companies in the province for optional free COVID-19 testing for all their drivers and delivery riders. The city’s legislators stated that delivery riders and drivers are at risk of getting COVID-19 on account of their job and this may jeopardize not only themselves but also the people whom they interact with. Therefore, free testing services and other benefits must be given to them regardless of what company they’re under. Officials have been advocating for aggressive expanded and targeted testing among various sectors of the community in order to immediately isolate those who test positive for the virus. [4 & 5 ]

Go to Yoorekka for more COVID-19 updates in Northern Luzon.