GOVERNOR Amado Espino III called on Pangasinenses not to relax their guard and become complacent at this time because the COVID-19 situation in the province is far from being under control, citing indicators of fluctuation in the data every day.

Speaking at the Kapihan sa Ilocos of the Philippine Information Agency 1 last Wednesday, October 6, Gov. Espino cited the registered 475 new cases on October 5 when the average daily cases being logged was only about 200 the week prior.

Gov. Espino feared that the new high number of cases could be the beginning of another surge when the cases were hitting 400-800 new cases day, a situation that prompted him to ask the national IATF to shift the province’s classification to General Community Quarantine (GCQ) with heightened restrictions, from its Moderate GCQ  status.

Pangasinan will remain under GCQ with heightened restrictions till October 31.

Nonetheless, Gov. Espino assured his constituents that the provincial government is doing its best to contain the situation by making sure the 14 hospitals run by the province will continue to respond effectively to any contingency.

“We are focusing on the accommodation in hospitals of all patients who had been found positive and already have symptoms of the disease,” Espino said.

The governor said that since availability of hospital beds is always a big challenge, the  provincial government is providing more beds, building more tents to ensure that no one is turned back and all cases are accommodated in all hospitals.

He added that 60 health workers that include doctors, nurses and utility workers have been hired to replace those who resigned to work abroad, and the roll out of vaccination and mass testing continue in all towns and cities.

Gov. Espino was all praises for the health workers that are staying in their posts even as some had to resign owing to family pressures out of fear for their welfare.

Meanwhile, Gov. Espino said the provincial government continues to strike a balance between its COVID-19 response and of igniting the economy in order to help the families support themselves because the province cannot afford to maintain and provide for all their needs daily.

He said as soon as the situation improves, his Abig Pangasinan program and similar complementary programs such as health caravan and food for work of the provincial government to provide services to the people right in their doorsteps, will resume.

Gov. Espino also announced that he will soon write to all town and city mayors to ask them to close their cemeteries and memorial parks from October 29 to November 2 to prevent the crowding of people in those places during the observance of  “Undas.”  (Leonardo Micua)

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