Baguio's 2 Covid treatment sites/ grocers okay lockdown

CITY HALL BEAT

Aileen P. Refuerzo

BAGUIO CITY      -- The Dept. of Health Cordillera (DOH-CAR) has given the green light for the upgrading of two temporary Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) facilities boosting the city's efforts to expand its isolation units to address the soaring cases.

Mayor Benjamin Magalong and City Health Officer Dr. Rowena Galpo said the city received August 14 the licenses for the Teachers' Camp to operate as a community isolation unit with a 90-bed capacity and for the Baguio City Community Isolation Unit at Sto. Niño Jesus Medical Center to expand its bed capacity from 45 to 90.

Before its upgrading, Teachers' Camp located along Leonard Wood Road served solely as quarantine facility for returning Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) from city and the provinces of Benguet and Mt. Province. Now, it will remain as OFW quarantine site while at the same time serve as isolation unit to manage COVID-19 positive patients.

The BCCIU at Sto.Niño at P. Burgos barangay, the city's first community isolation unit, initially catered to suspected cases and later COVID-19 positive patients with mild conditions.

The certificates signed by DOH-CAR Regional Director Ruby Constantino indicated that the converted (facilities) were "generally compliant to the DOH guidelines and other pertinent issuances related to the operation of Temporary Treatment and Monitoring Facility Community Isolation Unit."

The authorizations are valid from August 12 to December 31, 2020.

Meanwhile, the DOH-CAR also allowed Atok Trail and Irisan health centers to operate as birthing clinics by virtue of license to operate signed by then Officer-in-Charge Dr. Amelita Pangilinan.

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City authorities and owners of grocery stores and supermarkets under the Baguio-Benguet Entrepreneurs and Traders Association agreed to cooperate to pursue the mandatory testing of all grocery workers and set lockdown procedures to follow in the occurrence of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infection.

In a consultation meeting held August 15, Mayor Magalong promised to help the association avail of low cost tests to enable its members to comply with his order to pay for the COVID tests of all their workers.

The mayor issued the order last August 12 after a clustering of COVID positive cases occurred in one supermarket proving the vulnerability of the sector to the disease.

He said the testing requirement like what he imposed on banking companies recently would determine who are infected and immediately facilitate control measures to arrest the transmission.

 Association members admitted they are hard up in complying with the 100 percent swab testing requirement due to the high cost of Reverse Transcriptase-Polymerase Chain Reaction tests.

The mayor said he will work out an arrangement for the association to avail of low priced test kits as soon as possible.

The parties also agreed on lockdown guidelines covering the terms of contact tracing, closure, personnel redeployment their inclusion in barangay lockdown orders, among others.

The mayor also reminded the businessmen to intensity the implementation of health protocols in their establishments to ensure the protection of their customers and workers from the virus.

With the mayor during the consultation were City Health Officer Dr. Rowena Galpo, CHSO Sanitation Division Head Engr. Charles Carame and City Permits and Licensing Division Head Allan Abayao.