Davao City – After reviewing the surge of cases here in Davao City, the Chief Implementer of the National Task Force Against COVID-19- Sec. Carlito Galvez Jr. wants to end the practice of home quarantine for COVID-19 patients as it contributes to community transmission.
“Kapag nagkakaroon po tayo ng home quarantine, susunod po diyan ang tinatawag na community transmission, pagka may community transmission mahirapan po natin masugpo ang COVID, ” Sec. Galvez said during an inter-agency meeting held last Nov. 18 at Camp Quentin Merecido (Camp Catitipan) here in Davao City.
Sec. Galvez noted that the temporary treatment facilities is only 27.7% occupied which means there are many who are home quarantined.
He said based on experience in Metro Manila, Laguna and Cebu about 75% of asymptomatic patients were quarantined in their own homes and this contributed to the explosion of cases.
“Even in Batangas out of the 2,600 cases, about 2,200 were home quarantined,” Galvez said.
The anti-COVID chief also added that the major weakness of Davao Region is contact tracing as it has failed to immediately isolate the first contacts.
MASSIVE ISOLATION
Sec. Galvez sees a massive isolation campaign as an intervention to stem the surge of COVID cases in the region, particularly in Davao City.
If the Mayor, Mayor Sara will allow, bubuo kami ng isang team, yung team namin sa Cebu, at saka team namin sa Bacolod at team namin sa Manila dadalhin namin dito para mapluck out namin lahat yung naka home quarantine ” Galvez said.
“We will have an Oplan Kalinga here, that is our recommendation” he said.
Oplan Kalinga is an isolation strategy where home quarantined mild and asymptomatic patients are transported to isolation facilities where they could recuperate without the risk of infecting other members of the household.
Galvez said based on experience Oplan Kalinga has been successful in stabilizing COVID hotspots across the country.
“Pag napluck out natin yung naka home quarantine at na-test natin yung mga first contact including na first contact na-isolate po namin kaagad yan, Within four weeks bababa ang kaso. Experience po natin yan ngayon ang Bacolod na-stabilize na ang Bacolod, ang Cebu na stabilize na, ang Batangas na stabilize including Region 3 and region 4″ Galvez said during the meeting.
(Philippine Information Agency, RG Alama | OIC Michael Manguhig, RPN DXKT Davao)
