BAGUIO CITY — Saying lives and the economy are at stake, tourism industry leaders on Tuesday turned against what they claimed are “sensationalized news reports” about the summer capital’s classification as a “high risk” area for the coronavirus has “misled” travelers into thinking that Baguio is unsafe. Baguio was ranked high alongside Davao City among nine local governments flagged in the latest OCTA Research as “hot spots” due to high rates of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) transmissions. The research lists LGUs of concern or high-risk areas based on high cases per day, high positivity rate, high attack rate, and/or high hospital occupancy. Baguio tourism officer Aloysius Mapalo said almost 10,000 tourists and business travelers have visited Baguio from Oct. 22 to Nov. 22 after Mayor Benjamin Magalong reopened the city borders to leisure travelers from Luzon. “In any language, in any real-time situation, Baguio’s nunber of positive cases hardly (depict) a city gripped (by) a ‘high risk’ situation,” they said.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer November 24, 2020 22:56 UTC