Gov. Arthur Yap, in a late afternoon meeting yesterday, July 31, 2021, together with the Bohol Inter Agency Task Force (BIATF) medical cluster,  mayors of Bohol and the local business sector, decided to harmonize with the National Capital Region (NCR) and Cebu; and will request the Regional IATF (RIATF) to allow the province to close its borders to air and sea travelers for two weeks starting on August 6 until 20, 2021.

In an exclusive information material obtained by The Bohol Tribune shortly before deadline last night, a report said that the border closure makes a lot of sense considering that most of the travelers entering Bohol are from NCR and Cebu. People from NCR and Cebu are barred from making non-essential travel, considering their quarantine classification. NCR will be under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) starting on Aug. 6 to 20, 2021, while the entire Cebu island will be under modified ECQ starting today, Aug. 1 until Aug. 15, 2021.

The period of time when Bohol province will be closing its borders is an opportunity to bring down infection rates and ramp up vaccine rollout efforts, according to Gov. Yap

 “This way, the Province will be given time to coordinate with the [local government units] LGUs in continuing efforts to bring down infection numbers through aggressive testing and contact tracing, and ensuring the greater use of Temporary Treatment and Monitoring Facilities (TTMF) outside of Tagbilaran City. More importantly, the LGUs in Bohol need this time period to drive an aggressive program to vaccinate the senior citizens, those with co-morbidities and to support our [overseas Filipino workers] OFWs who need to be deployed abroad quickly, as we prepare Bohol to repel and contain any possible Delta Variant infections,” Gov. Yap said.

Business sector stalwarts Marlito Uy of the Alturas Group of Companies and Reginald Ong of Bohol Quality Corporation, the Bohol Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dr. Kazan Benigno Baluyot of the Philippine College of Physicians and the Bohol Medical Society, and Atty. Lucas Nunag of the Provincial Tourism Council converged and came up with a consensus looking at the province being able to sustain a two-week closure to sea and air travelers synchronized with the circuit-breaker lockdowns in NCR and Cebu, in order to give Bohol the chance to contain infection numbers and prepare for a possible entry of the Delta Variant here.

Despite the temporary closure of borders which will last until August 20, 2021, Bohol will continue to domestically follow modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) rules so the local economy can continue to thrive and serve local stakeholders.

The exclusive report received by The Bohol Tribune also says that authorized persons outside residence (APOR), including returning OFWs will be given access to enter the province, but only if: they can present a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test result taken 72 hours prior to arrival in the province; they have no symptoms upon arrival; and they will subject themselves to a second swab test after a five-day quarantine in accredited hotels or local LGU quarantine facilities. Essential goods will also be allowed to enter Bohol, the report adds.

The governor has also ordered the mayors to fast track the vaccination efforts among senior citizens and persons with co-morbidities.

Gov. Yap, in the said meeting, reminded the mayors that to ensure that the health care system will not be overwhelmed by patients who exhibit moderate or severe Coronavirus disease (Covid) symptoms, the weak and vulnerable sectors of society should be inoculated as soon as possible.

This way, Gov. Yap said, Bohol can manage the critical care utilization rate in local health care facilities.

“I agree that the period must also be used to ramp up numbers of vaccination rates on the vulnerable senior citizens and those with co-morbidities.  We must target a daily vaccination rate of at least 5,000, and ensure that by the end of August, we will have been able to vaccinate 44,000 more individuals to add to our about 60,000 fully vaccinated individuals,” Gov. Yap said.

In a related development, during the virtual press briefing on July 30, 2021, Gov. Yap reminded Boholanos to continue following the health and safety protocol as a means to protect against the more contagious Delta variant.

On July 29, 2021, it was reported that the Department of Health (DOH) detected 32 Covid cases caused by the Delta variant in Cebu.

According to Provincial Health Office officer-in-charge Dr. Cesar Tomas Lopez, all Bohol hospitals are under Code Red Alert Level 4. This means that, no medical personnel will be allowed to go on vacation as all leaves are cancelled, Lopez explained.

MAYOR BABA’S TAKE

In a telephone interview last night, Tagbilaran City mayor John Geesnell Yap confirmed the exclusive report provided to The Bohol Tribune about the two-week border closure. He said the airlines have earlier cancelled flights into Bohol during the circuit-breaker lockdown in the NCR, anyway.

Furthermore, he told The Bohol Tribune that the City Government will use the two-week border closure to ramp up the vaccine rollout to essential economic workers, health frontline workers, people with co-morbidities and senior citizens.

NCR ON LOCKDOWN

NCR will shift to enhanced community quarantine starting on Aug. 6 to 20, 2021, according to a report from CNN Philippines.

Harry Roque, spokesperson of the national IATF made the announcement on July 30, 2021, a day after the task force met with Metro Manila mayors.

The NCR local chief executives have been calling for the imposition of the strictest form of quarantine following a rise in Covid cases due to the Delta variant.

CEBU PROVINCE

UNDER MECQ

Unless there would be changes, the entire island of Cebu is placed under modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ), starting today, Aug. 1 to 15, 2021, according to a report by state-owned People’s Television.

Visayas IATF chief Melquiades Feliciano said that the quarantine escalation, which is subject to appeal, is “one measure to stop the spread [of the virus] to some other areas” following the Delta variant detection in Cebu.

The MECQ classification is a preventive measure to limit the movement of people, especially as the number of cases is still rising and contact tracing efforts are still undergoing, according to reports.