TWO barangays in Mandaue City have prepared the venues and staff for the first day of the Covid-19 Rapid testing on Monday, May 4, 2020.
Barangays Umapad and Canduman will be the first barangays to be tested.
Atty. John Eddu Ibanez, the executive secretary of Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes explained during a Facebook live press conference that in the rapid testing they are not only focused on the barangays with confirmed coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases.
However, they focused on all the 27 barangays to determine the spread of the virus within the city.
In a phone interview, Nelson Rubio Sr., the chieftain of Barangay Umapad, told Sunstar Cebu that they have already prepared their mini gym where the rapid testing will be conducted.
They have disinfected the gym together with the Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (DRRRMO) personnel and they have placed the chairs with 1.5 meters distance from each other.
Rubio said that the Barangay Health Emergency Response Team (BHERTs) have identified the individuals to undergone rapid testing.
His barangay is expected to provide 608 individuals to undergo rapid testing.
He admitted that they still identified 250 individuals in their barangays because some of the individuals listed by the Department of Health (DOH) to take the rapid testing are already dead not because of Covid-19 and some are stuck in their provinces.
His barangay is only given two days to complete locating those who are on the list, which is not that easy, he said.
He encouraged the frontliners in his barangays to volunteer.
Some of the residents in their barangays especially those displaced workers volunteer to undergo the rapid testing as part of the requirement of their company once their company will operate after the modified community quarantine will be imposed, said Rubio.
Rubio said their barangay will be used as the dry run of the rapid testing and he hopes that there will be a lot of things to be realized for other barangays to have more systematized rapid testing.
For those individuals on the master list, Rubio assured that they will fetch them at their house especially to those living far from the mini gym.
He said that they have already prepared vehicles to fetch these residents.
In a separate interview, Dante Borbajo, the chieftain of Barangay Canduman, told Sunstar Cebu that the Mandaue City Health Office (CHO) called him to inform that their schedule was moved to May 14.
However, Dr. Rose Marie Ouano-Tirado, the head of CHO clarified to Sunstar Cebu that the rapid testing for Barangay Canduman will resume on Monday, May 4, 2020, as initially planned.
Nevertheless, Barbajo said that even before CHO called him, they have already prepared the venue as well as his staff for the rapid testing.
His barangay was expected to provide 860 individuals to undergo rapid testing.
Like Rubio, he was also a concern about locating the residents listed on the list as some of these individuals are no longer a residence in their barangay or some have died.
Borbajo clarified that they are not the once who will select the individuals to be listed but DOH will only provide them with the list and they are the ones to locate them.
Once the person listed is not present in the barangay or does not want to undergo the rapid testing then that is the time they will be the one to select.
He assured that each sitios are well represented.(KFD)