NOTE: This story was first published in The Bohol Chronicle’s Sunday print edition.
The 79 isolation units set up by municipalities and Tagbilaran City have increased the total bed capacity to 936 from 886 last week.
As of April 8, the 24 municipal or city isolation units established throughout the 14 towns and one city in the first district already have a total bed capacity of 357.
The 22 municipal isolation units spread throughout the 14 towns in the second district have 279 bed capacity; and the 33 municipal isolation units established in the 19 towns of third district has 300 bed capacity.
By April 6, no single barangay is without any isolation unit.
There are 372 barangay IUs in the first district, 364 in the second district, and 488 in third district.
This means there are now a total of 1,225 barangay IUs.
The barangay IUs established in the first district have a total of 692 in bed capacity. Those in second district now have 731 bed capacity; and those in the third district have 938 in bed capacity; or a total of 2,361 bed-capacity in all the BUIs.
As to actual available furniture and beds in the barangay IUs, first district has 372; second district now has 365; and third district has 487; or a total of 1,224 furniture and beds available in the BUIs.
As to the availability of electricity, 371 barangay IUs in the first district have; 352 have in the second district; and 481 have in the third district.
As to the availability of running water, 364 barangay IUs in the first district have; 316 have in the second district; and 461 have in the third district.
As to the availability of toilets and bathrooms, 370 in the first district have; 363 have in the second district; and 486 have in the third district.
As to the availability of kitchen, 356 in the first district have; 320 have in the second district; and 461 have in the third district.
The provincial government’s medical advisers calculated that Bohol’s readiness in case of Covid-19 break-out depends on the rate of infections, considering that the province has 1.4 million people.
Bohol can only have a maximum capacity of 250 beds at the Gov. Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital for Covid-19 positive cases and the number is the same for isolation of Mild to Severe Acute Respiratory Illnesses.
There are just at least 24 ventilators ready within the province and these already include those in the private sector.
And, it would be in May yet that the handful of those to be sourced abroad would arrive.
There is also limited supply of Protective Personal Equipment (PPEs) that would just be about a few hundreds which may not meet the requirement when 70 pieces would be needed daily just for Phase 1 or 33 beds.
Gov. Art Yap inspected on April 6, the Covid-19 facilities at the Governor Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital after the chief of hospital, Dr. Mutia Kismet Tirol-Macuno, reported that they have already prepared the physical readiness of the facility to cater to Covid patients.
The area which used to be the acute stroke unit has been prepared as the ideal section for intensive care with seven beds separated by plastic walls.
Above the headboard of each is a cardiac monitor the ventilators will only be brought in if necessary but Macuno hopes that situations would not reach to the stage that they would have to attach the ventilators.
At the corner to the right is the access to high dependency units (HDUs) for severe acute respiratory illnesses or SARIs and a room is ready in there.
The other side is the medical 1 accommodation with 26 beds for cases of unstable moderate acute respiratory illnesses or MARI.
This complies the needed 33 beds for wave 1 of the preparation.
Meanwhile, Assistant provincial health officer, Dr. Yul Lopez, reported to Gov. Art Yap that the Provincial Epidemiology Surveillance Unit has already started conducting general community surveillance in the form testings and they target to finish random testing in 14 towns and Tagbilaran City by this week.
These 15 areas are grouped in three catchments where the Loon catchment covers the towns of Loon, Calape, and Tubigon. The Maribojoc catchment covers Maribojoc, Cortes, and Antequera. And, the Tagbilaran catchment covers Tagbilaran, Panglao, Dauis, Corella, Baclayon, Albur, Loay, Lila, and Dimiao.
The testing started on Monday last week and the result will serve as snapshots of the community.
Lopez explained that they started with only 15 municipalities to avoid overwhelming the Covid testing laboratory of Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center.
He also said they will be testing those with the influenza-like illnesses with no concurrent illness or ILI category 1, and ILI category 2 or those presenting influenza-like illness with no comorbidities stable and controlled comorbidities.
The other towns will follow in batches.
Grouped in Catigbian catchment are the towns of Catigbian, San Isidro, Balilihan, Sikatuna, and Danao; while the Carmen catchment covers Carmen, Dagohoy, Sierra-Bullones, Pilar, Sagbayan, Batuan, Bilar, Sevilla, and Loboc.
Jagna catchment covers Jagna, Guindulman, Duero, Valencia, and Garcia-Hernandez; while the Inabanga catchment covers Inabanga, Clarin, Getafe, Buenavista; the Candijay catchment covers Candijay, Mabini, Anda, and Alicia; and the Talibon catchment covers Talibon, Trinidad, Bien Unido, and Ubay.