No lack of nurses now but preps ongoing for influx of COVID-19 patients —PNA

The Philippine Nurses Association (PNA) on Sunday said that there is no lack of nurses in healthcare facilities yet but they are already preparing for an influx of COVID-19 patients anew.

In a Super Radyo dzBB interview, PNA president Melbert Reyes said while the sharp increase in COVID-19 infections is “very alarming,” there are still enough nurses to tend to the patients.

“Sa ngayon ay kaya pa naman pero pinaghahandaan natin ‘yung possibility na magkaroon ng katulad ng sa ating (Delta) bugso ng bilang ng mga nao-ospital,” he said.

(Right now, it is still manageable but we are already preparing for the possibility like what happened in Delta that there was a surge of people admitted in hospitals.)

The Justice Jose Abad Santos General Hospital on Saturday announced its temporary closure due to an increase in COVID-19 infections among its patients and healthcare workers.

Likewise, the Gat Andres Bonifacio Memorial Medical Center said it would temporarily stop admitting patients at the emergency room due to the rise of COVID-19 infections among hospital employees and personnel.

“Nakalulungkot nga ‘yon kasi despite ng kanilang vaccination and pag-iingat ay ‘yan, marami na naman tayong mga health workers na nai-infect ng COVID-19,” Reyes said.

(That is saddening because despite their vaccination status and their efforts to protect themselves, we have a lot of health workers who are getting infected with COVID-19.)

He however stressed that most of the nurses who tested positive for COVID-19 are either asymptomatic or show mild symptoms.

Reyes added that one of the factors for the spike in COVID-19 cases is the complacency of the people to follow minimum public health standards.

“Talagang hindi naman kasi maiiwasan. Halos dalawang taon nang napigilan ‘yung movements ng mga tao kaya siguro nu'ng nakita ng onting pagluluwag ay hindi natin napigilan ang activities ng mga tao,” he said.

(We can’t really avoid that. We have restricted the movements of the people for almost two years and so maybe when they saw an ease in restrictions, we were not able to control their activities.)

The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases has placed the National Capital Region under Alert Level 3 from January 3 to 15, 2022, following the sharp increase in new COVID-19 cases.

The Philippines on Saturday recorded 3,617 new COVID-19 infections at the start of the New Year, bringing the active case count to 17,374.

The country has so far detected 14 Omicron variant cases, including three local cases.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said on Friday that the highly transmissible Omicron variant may already be responsible for the sharp rise in COVID-19 cases in the country. —KG, GMA News