The municipal government appealed to residents in the municipality to be open-minded about the free community testing and the government’s vaccination program because it is for the overall health and safety of everyone.
Mayor Romeo K. Salda disclosed that it is unfortunate that there are some individuals who are continuously trying to spread false information about the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test which is now causing confusion among the people that resulted in very few individuals being tested in the recent community testing by the State-owned Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) in the locality.
For example, Salda claimed that one misinformation being circulated by irresponsible individuals is that if a person does not have the required Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) number, the result of the swab test on them will be automatically negative but when a person has a PhilHealth number, the result of the test will most probably be positive.
Further, he stated that there are also individuals who had been texting their family members, friends and relatives and informing them that the swab test is painful to the nose which deterred those who were initially interested to be tested.
Mayor Salda pointed out that such misinformation by irresponsible individuals will not actually help in the ongoing efforts of concerned government agencies and the local government to prevent further surges in the number of Corona virus Disease (COVID) 2019 cases in the municipality, but will instead worsen the situation which may result to stricter community quarantine status for the municipality and the province as a whole if there will be surges in the cases.
According to him, local officials and health workers are doing their best to provide the people with the right information on the testing and vaccination to help in achieving the desired herd immunity for the country but it seems that there are some individuals who want to discredit such efforts.
The mayor called on residents not to believe the misinformation being circulated but instead verify the same from the concerned government agencies and the municipal government so that they will be guided in any decision.
Salda explained it will not be the individuals circulating such false information on the testing and vaccination that will be affected once there will be a surge in the number of COVID cases, as it will be the concerned government agencies and the municipal government that will suffer the consequences of the health care system being compromised and the frontliners being stressed out.
(Dexter See, photo courtesy by Joseph Manzano, RPN DZBS Baguio OIC)