THE province of Aklan has tightened its health and safety protocols for Boracay Island in the light of the rising number of Covid-19 cases among the latter’s tourism workers.
Among the new protocols include disallowing the workers from returning to work until after they receive their negative RT-PCR test results, and the immediate transfer of Covid-positive workers to the municipality isolation centers. Also, guests who have been found positive with Covid-19 will have to undergo a mandatory 10-day quarantine at the municipality facility.
The new guidelines were contained in Executive Order 003 dated February 2, 2021, and signed by Aklan Gov. Florencio T. Miraflores. The local government had been taken to task for its poor health and safety protocols, which allowed Covid-positive workers to mix among hotel guests, thus endangering the latter’s welfare.
As this developed, the Malay Inter-Agency Task Force on Wednesday passed a resolution to allow RT-PCR saliva testing as part of the entry procedures for tourists to Boracay. A source told the BusinessMirror, the resolution “will be forwarded for approval to the BIATF [Boracay Inter-Agency Task Force],” chaired by Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu, and co-chaired by Interior Secretary Eduardo M. Año and Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat.
At present, tourists to Boracay are only allowed to take nasal swab RT-PCR tests. But the Department of Health recently approved saliva testing by the Philippine Red Cross, which, at P2,000, is supposed to be cheaper than nasal swab RT-PCR tests (P3,300) the latter offers.
The high cost of nasal swab RT-PCR tests and the discomfort suffered by the one taking the test have been blamed by tourism stakeholders as among the major reasons domestic tourism has yet to take off in the country, despite the reopening of many tourist destinations.
Quarantine after testing for workers
Meanwhile, Miraflores’s EO 003 reiterated the need for all resorts on Boracay to provide an isolation/quarantine facility for probable, suspect or confirmed case of Covid-19, which “can be used as a holding area before the confined case is shipped out of Boracay.”
All municipal and barangay governments “are likewise mandated to have their quarantine/isolation facility in their respective areas.”
For Covid-positive guests “with moderate symptoms…he/she has to complete the 10-day quarantine” at the quarantine facility of Malay. Critical cases will be transferred to the Dr. Rafael S. Tumbokon Memorial Hospital (DRSTMH) in Kalibo.
Workers who develop Covid-like symptoms and are found positive after tests conducted by the Ciriano S. Tirol Hospital (CSTH) should remain at the municipality’s isolation/quarantine facility. If the worker develops critical symptoms, he shall be transferred to DRSTMH.
“All employees/workers/staff subjected to swabbing for RT-PCR test whether conducted during the mass testing or as entry or re-entry requirement of the establishment shall not be allowed to report for work/duty until the negative result is released and made known to the establishment and to the subject,” according to the new EO.
The management of at least two hotels on the island have attested that during the mass swabbing conducted by the Aklan government at CSTH, they were not told to quarantine their employees after taking RT-PCR tests, posing a clear danger to guests and their coworkers, especially since some of those swabbed were later found to be positive.
‘Stay on the island’
In the case of Shangri-La’s Boracay Resort and Spa, the Covid-positive workers were even allowed by the municipal health office (MHO) to be home-quarantined instead of being transferred to the Malay quarantine facility. In another case, the MHO approved the Hue Hotel’s quarantine facility for a Covid-positive worker, who was only transferred two days later to Kalibo, after netizens criticized the poor condition of the hotel’s quarantine facility.
Under the new EO, Covid-positive workers “shall immediately be isolated and bought to the Municipal Ligtas Covid Center of Malay and if he/she develops moderate to severe [Covid] symptoms during confinement, he/she will be transferred… to DRSTMH.”
Employers should also discourage their employees from leaving the island if found negative for Covid “even on their day off … unless for a valid and reasonable ground.” If the employer determines valid reasons for the staff to leave the island, or if on official business, “they shall return to the island within 12 hours, otherwise they have to be quarantined/isolated in the facility of the establishment for not more than seven days for proper monitoring and observation by the health and safety officer of the establishment.”
