By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

Negros Occidental’s provincial administrator, Atty. Rayfrando Diaz, said yesterday that they are hoping that the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) will approve a proposal made by both the provincial government and the Department of Health in Western Visayas (DOH-6) to implement the COVID-19 alert levels per local government units (LGUs) instead.

According to Diaz, the DOH-6 suggested that alert level classification should be done per LGU and not as the whole province because there are LGUs that are performing well and have already exceeded their minimum targets for COVID-19 vaccination.

Data from the Provincial Health Office (PHO) in Negros Occidental revealed that the city of La Carlota and the town of Pulupandan have already exceeded the target 80 percent full vaccination rate for the general population.

Cadiz City is also close to reaching the target mark, alongside the towns of San Enrique and E.B. Magalona.

Overall, however, as of March 26, the province has only fully vaccinated 65.02 percent of the target population.

“We want them also to enjoy the effects of their hard work especially that 70 to 80 percent of their population are already vaccinated,” Diaz said.

He also pointed out that it will further encourage other LGUs to strive to reach the same level of vaccination as those LGUs who are already under Alert Level 1.

Meanwhile, Negros Occidental will likely retain its Alert Level 2 status by tomorrow, April 1, as the province had yet to reach the required 70 percent fully vaccinated general population and 80 percent senior citizen coverage in order to be downgraded to Alert Level 1 or the “new normal” status./DGB, WDJ