Capitol clarifies The Freeman’s report on ‘most deaths’

The Freeman’s headline today, August 25, 2021, entitled “Cebu Province has most deaths”, and written by Caecent Noot-Magsumbol and Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon, is misleading especially when their figures are grounded upon the Department of Health’s tracker that makes no mention of the enormity of the population where the incidence for COVID-19 can be derivednor if the death is directly attributable to COVID-19.

The Provincial Government of Cebu’s metric measures the COVID-19 death incidence for every 100,000 population to afford a more transparent understanding of the total number of COVID-19 identified deaths.

Based on the Province of Cebu’s population of 3,276,437, and with a total number of deaths of 1,624, the COVID-19 death incidence for every 100,000 population is only 49.6. For context, the City of Cebu’s incidence is higher at 121.7 with a population of 922,611 and a tally of 1,123 deaths while the City of Mandaue’s incidence is 82.4 with a population of 362,654 and 299 deaths.

Using this methodology, the Province of Cebu ranks number 27, the City of Cebu ranks number 2, and the City of Mandaue ranks number 6 among provinces and cities across the country.

If we isolate the figures to strictly limit it to only those pertaining to deaths directly attributable to the COVID-19, the Province of Cebu will rank number 91 with a total death of 398 and an incidence of 12.1 for every 100,000 population.

As admittedly mentioned by the writers, “the tracker does not indicate how many deaths were caused purely by COVID or also because of complications.” This creates an inaccuracy between the data sourced from the Department of Health tracker, cited byCaecent Noot-Magsumbol and Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon, when they reported that Cebu Province “has most deaths” of “at least 123 died from COVID-19 from August 9 to 22, 2021”, and with the Provincial Government’s own data. Per the Provincial Government’s data, the number of COVID-19 identified deaths for said period is 46 where 31 can be directly attributed to the COVID-19 and 16 are attributable to other causes, that include drowning and kidney failure, where COVID-19 was merely an incidental finding while 271 deaths are still pending diagnosis.

The variance in the data of COVID-19 deaths rests solely in the reporting mechanism since reports submitted to the Department of Health from different local government units are delayed in contrast to the direct reporting mechanism of the Provincial Government - real time reporting. Deaths pending diagnosis, when diagnosed, are reported by the Department of Health tracker on the day of said diagnosis even if the actual death occurred two (2) weeks before.

We strongly advise writers to adopt the metric used by the Provincial Government in analyzing the COVID-19 active case count and deaths. They are urged to verify their sources, especially on matters relating to the COVID-19 situations, with the Provincial Government’s data for accuracy in their articles.

Sgd.

ATTY. FRANK EDUARD C. DINSAY V

Chief of Staff

Office of the Governor