42 Covid-19 cases in Cordillera as DOH expands mass testing

BAGUIO – The number of Covid-19 cases in Cordillera has gone up with  expanded mass testing.

The regional Dept. of Health office said it expects increase in cases and urged the public not to be alarmed but to practice health and safety prevention measures in their homes and community.

Cordillera DOH Regional Director Dr. Amelita Pangilinan, in an online media briefing Tuesday,  said  the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center has started implementing expanded mass testing last week, in which from the 26 confirmed cases last April 24 the number increased to 42   in its  April 27 data.

Of the 42 confirmed cases, 23 are admitted in health facilities, 18 already recovered and 1 recorded death. Of the 23 active cases, 16 are from Baguio City, six from Benguet and one from Ifugao.

With health workers included in the priority for the mass testing along with the suspect cases with severe symptoms and critical medical condition, Pangilinan  said  new confirmed cases  include nine health workers bringing to 15 the number of health workers infected with COVID – 19 (the number includes two patients  who already  recovered).

The 15 health workers infected included four doctors and four nurses.  12 are from the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center and one each from the Baguio City Health Services Office, Benguet General Hospital and the Cordillera Hospital of the Divine Grace in La Trinidad, Benguet.

Pangilinan said the implementation of mass testing will help the region in bringing out the true picture of COVID- 19 cases in the region. 

She reminded the public to continue practicing infection control and prevention measures at home.

On the expanded mass testing, BGHMC Center Director Dr. Ricardo Ruñez reported that they are already using two RT – PCR machines and two more that are undergoing calibration with five medical technologists running the laboratory tests.

Ruñez disclosed that as BGHMC is catering to laboratory confirmatory testing of specimens from Regions 1, 2 and CAR even though running the machines at full capacity, it still has 554 backlog specimen and their test kits are down to 1,500.

He said they are waiting for more test kits from the RITM.

Meantime, Ruñez said BGHMC’s COVID – 19 services will be on regular operations as all front liners are in good health despite the presence of BGHMC health workers that tested positive of the virus as they are not part of the COVID ward.

He added infection control and prevention measures are already being implemented at BGHMC and that though they have scaled down their operations especially in the outpatient department. He assured that BGHMC will not turn down any emergency medical situation.

Mayor Benjamin Magalong and City Health Officer Dr. Rowena Galpo earlier said the increasing trend was not surprising with the start of the expanded risk-based testing using the Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) confirmatory test kits on Monday, April 27 at 200 tests a day to run until May 15.

The mayor however urged residents not to let their guards down and instead be extra conscious in observing health and safety precautions as he directed the sustained stricter implementation of the Enhanced Community Quarantine rules on checkpoints, lockdowns, curfew, physical distancing, wearing of masks and others.

The risk-based testing enables the locality to seek out those infected not only from the pool of suspected ones who manifest symptoms but also from the group of probable cases who are asymptomatic. This enables early detection and thus leads to the prevention of the transmission of the virus. 

Galpo said six of the eight diagnosed patients on Saturday were tested not because they had symptoms but because they fell in the categories fit for risk-based testing.

"The new cases included four health workers from the BGHMC and they were tested not because they had symptoms but because they are health workers.

The same way that the two Overseas Filipino Workers at Teachers' Camp were also tested even if they are asymptomatic because of their history of travel," Galpo said.

Only two of the patients -- the hotel employee and the eight-day old had symptoms and thus were tested.

Magalong himself said that without mass testing, the city cannot determine its true situation as to the extent of the contagion.

"We have local transmissions of which source remains unascertained so I am not comfortable. If you ask me if it is true that we only have 18 cases, I don't think so," he told businessmen last week.

He said the city can now undertake more tests with the arrival of his requested PCR machines. There are now four machines at the BGHMC with two working and two being calibrated.

He said the BGHMC test facility has so far received 8,100 RT-PCR test allocation to cover Northern Luzon.

To supplement this, the city uses privately donated rapid test kits which although not confirmatory were helpful in determining who are highly probable and who are not among the suspected cases on home quarantine.

Galpo said the city as of April 24 had conducted 847 RT-PCR confirmatory tests and 411 rapid tests.

This, as the Baguio City Police Office reported zero apprehension for violations of the Enhanced Community Quarantine last week.

"We consider this a success as a result of the massive information dissemination and reminders to the people of Baguio," BCPO Allen Rae Co told Magalong

"This aligns with our ultimate goal of not having massive arrests but rather significant and substantial compliance to the provisions of the ECQ. We hope that this trend continues and that the people of the city will continue taking the threat of COVID more seriously," he added.

On April 27, only one violator of the ECQ was arrested by the Baguio City Police Office.

Co said this validated Wednesday’s report that curfew violators dwindled because residents have become aware of the grave consequence of breaching these rules.

Co said the arrest of only two offenders was somewhat expected as Sunday was lockdown day in the barangays.

But today's result affirmed that people have become conscious of the need to abide by the ECQ measures, he said.

On orders of Mayor Magalong, police stepped up the implementation of ECQ rules by effecting arrest and handcuffing violators.

The PNP later also ordered that violators be subjected to outright arrest, jailing and filing of charges. – With PIA, Baguio City PIO reports