14 Baguio grocery workers get Covid; 5 deaths in city

SWAB TEST -- Members of the media are included in random swab testing conducted by the Baguio City government. All sectors were included with at least 10 percent tested to give the local government  situational awareness of Covid-19 situation in Baguio. -- Liza T. Agoot/PNA 

BAGUIO CITY mayor Benjamin Magalong ordered swab testing not only for bank employees but also for grocery and department store workers after 14 employees of a grocery store in the central business district were infected with Covid-19.

Some bank employees here had also been infected with the deadly disease.

Baguio now has 69 cases with five deaths. 

Magalong said the city’s testing here expanded thus the need to acquire more test kits for residents as Covid 19-cases increased.

Magalong ordered the city’s local finance committee to allot P30 million to procure some 10,000 reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test kits also to be used for contact tracing Covid-19 cases in the city.

City Health Officer Dr. Rowena Galpo said there were more than 19,000 available RT-PCR test kits, now being used in tracing and testing 10 percent of sectors in Baguio.

Earlier, the Dept. of Health and the national Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases identified the RT-PCR test as the gold standard in conduct of tests for Covid-19.

Magalong said instead of only 1 percent of the city’s population that would undergo the required Covid-19 test, the city opted to increase it to 10 percent of the city’s population.

This allows a clearer picture of the degree of infection of the virus among residents, he said.

He said the city has to allocate funds to purchase RT-PCR test kits fast because of limited supply in the market.

 The city government subjected more than 25,000 residents to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing, Magalong said.

Magalong said residents from the different sectors of the community were randomly swab tested by a team from the City Health Services Office (CHSO) starting June.

The swab samples were processed at the molecular laboratory of the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC), a Department of Health (DOH) managed facility.

Magalong said swab testing is an important component of contact tracing to see who needs to be isolated or quarantined.

The risk-based mass testing will determine the actual situation of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic in the city aside from looking for asymptomatic patients for isolation and treatment.

The last sector to be tested is the banking industry.

Based on a CHSO report, there were 439 personnel from 23 banks who were swab tested. A total of 28 tested positive, or a positivity rate of 6.38 percent.

"At least we have situational awareness," he said.

The mayor said persons who have close contacts with a positive individual were also subjected to PCR testing.

He said that experience on contact tracing show that a Covid-19 case has an average of 37 close contacts who were identified within 24 hours, swab tested, and immediately quarantined to avoid further spread of the disease.

Those with flu-like symptoms who were asked to report to the Barangay Health Emergency Team (BHERT) for assessment or to a medical facility for check-up were also swab tested.

Returning overseas Filipino workers who have symptoms were also tested.

Magalong cited the opening and accreditation of a private molecular laboratory in the city as additional swab testing facility.

On Tuesday, nine of the 16 positive cases recorded in Baguio were tested by the private molecular laboratory.

Magalong said regular swab testing of medical front-liners is a continuing activity as the city has sufficient PCR testing kits.

"We have sufficient supplies from donors. Actually, we are sharing the supply to nearby provinces of the Cordillera. By helping them, we are also helping ourselves," the mayor said.

Meantime, the RT-PCR pooled testing in Makati City would make testing more affordable for every Filipino, Presidential Adviser Jose Maria Concepcion said Wednesday.

Concepcion, who advocated rapid testing to jumpstart the economy, noted in a Zoom meeting pooled PCR testing could signify a better chance for a majority of Filipinos to get tested for the coronavirus.

“With more testing available for citizens, there would be more confidence to do work and business, which could eventually keep our economy afloat,” he said. – With reports from Liza Agoot/PNA and Dexter A. See