There were 68 new COVID-19 cases from June 20 to June 26, bringing the total for the month to 186.
This is 16 more than the 170 recorded in the previous month of May, an increase of nearly 10 percent.
There were 25 new cases on June 22, 13 on June 23, 5 on June 25 and 15 on June 16, bringing the number of active cases on the island to 113.
Gigmoto, which used to have no active case for some time now, has one. Leading the pack is Virac with 43 (with 11 deaths), Bagamanoc with 15, San Andres with 12 (2 deaths), Caramoran with 11, Bato and San Miguel with 6 each, Viga and Panganiban with 5 each, Pandan with 4 (2 deaths), and Baras with 4 actives (3 deaths).
Of the 113, 99 are quarantines while 15 are admitted at health facilities as of June 26. Thirty-four are asymptomatics, 73 have mild symptoms while two have moderate symptoms and four have severe ones.
But this is no cause for alarm, as provincial health officials said last Friday. The basis for looking at case increases is by Morbidity Week, based on the onset of symptoms or the day the swab was taken, and not when the positive results were released by the Department of Health.
Looking at the data, the daily attack rate for Catanduanes, which is based on the number of active cases per 100,000 population, has hovered between 30 to 37 percent.
For the period June 22 to 26, it has leaped over 40, with the June 26 attack rate calculated at 48.36 percent.
The average daily attack rate, along with the two-week growth rate, is among the parameters in determing the quarantine classification of a given area.
An average attack rate of over 100%, along with a positive increase over two weeks, can raise the risk category of a locality.
According to a source, two more deaths – one each in Virac and San Miguel – have been added to the COVID-19 fatality list last Sunday and Monday, bringing the total to 21.
*****
Mayor Johnny Rodulfo of Bato has offered a P50,000 rewards for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for the senseless and brutal murder of an 87-year old World War II veteran in a suspected robbery in barangay Batalay last June 26, 2021.
The lifeless body of Ester Teope Rojas was found soaked in blood in her bedroom by her grandson, Gilbert, who told the police that he went to her house at 7pm and left later to play ML. When he came back at 11:30pm, she was already dead from injuries in the head, with her belongings scattered in the room.
The police found that earlier in the afternoon, Rojas was accompanied by her daughter to Virac in withdrawing money from a bank. A son also claimed that his mother is keeping about P80,000 in her cabinet.
A search of the crime scene turned up a LandBank ATM card and a receipt for a P15,000 withdrawal inside the victim’s bag but the money could no longer be found.
A source claimed that the autopsy of the victim’s body showed that an icepick was most likely used to inflict the puncture wound in Rojas’ head as well as multiple wounds on the body.
*****
Before the week is over, the public will know who among the CatSU officials will be designated to vacant management posts by the new president.
For the three vice presidents, Dr. Patrick Alain Azanza already described what his administration wants to achieve in the next four years and the qualifications of those who will work with him.
Whether he succeeds in achieving these goals will be determined by the kind of people he designates to vital position and his skill in securing everyone’s cooperation, including those who are uneasy with having an unfamiliar hand at the helm of the CatSU.
*****
THE GREAT TEACHER. On their 25th wedding anniversary and during the banquet celebrating it, Joseph was asked to give his friends a brief account of the benefits of a marriage of such long duration.
“Tell us Joseph, just what is it you have learned from all those wonderful years with your wife?”
Joseph responds, “Well, I’ve learned that marriage is the best teacher of all.
It teaches you loyalty, meekness, forbearance, self-restraint, forgiveness — and a great many other qualities you wouldn’t have needed if you’d stayed single.”