ON THE heels of a regional spike in infections, Baguio City recorded three new Covid-19 positive cases on Thursday, June 18, 2020.
The patients are a 28-year-old policeman deployed in La Trinidad, Benguet who is a resident of Barangay Poliwes; a 30-year- old female service crew from Purok 14, Lower Cypress, Irisan; and a 54-year-old female from Lopez Jaena who was declared dead on arrival at the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center.
The lone fatality was hypertensive and complained of chest pain before she was brought to the hospital and was swab tested. It cannot be determined if her death was caused by the virus as no autopsy was administered before her immediate cremation.
Frontliner infected
The 28-year-old policeman agreed to disclose his identity to fast track contact tracing procedures and deter the possible spread of the virus.
Police Corporal George Pumay-o, assigned at the La Trinidad Municipal Police Station, tested positive for the virus after his real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test came out. He was informed of his health status on June 17.
He had no symptoms of the virus and is among the frontliners enforcing control of barangays on lockdown in La Trinidad town.
Pumay-o is a resident of Purok 2, Poliwes where he lives with his family and his parents. His father works at the Baguio City Hall. His only movement was from his workplace in La Trinidad to his home in Poliwes, and a trip to an internet service provider to apply for a connection with his brother.
BLISTT agrees to harmonize
Leaders of Baguio City and Benguet towns, meanwhile, agreed to harmonize efforts to protect their areas amid the surge in Covid-positive cases.
During the meeting of the Baguio City Inter-Agency Task Force led by Mayor Benjamin Magalong with Mayor Romeo Salda of La Trinidad, Victorio Palangdan of Itogon, Clarita Sal-ongan of Tuba, Ruben Tinda-an of Buguias, Armando Lauro of Tublay, Thomas Wales of Bokod, Frenzel Ayong of Mankayan and Vice Mayor Arthur Baldo of Sablan, harmonized process of contact tracing, testing, border control was agreed to be made.
“As neighbors, we have to work together and protect each other because anything that happens in one locality will impact the other,” Magalong said.
Magalong said the spike in cases is alarming and if unabated might result in the doubling of figures, stressing the need for synchronized action from all the areas.
Baguio contact tracing technology
Magalong offered to share the city’s strategy including the software and capability building for free to all areas for each to develop their contact tracing systems.
A 14-day training and immersion have been set in the city for the municipalities’ police operatives and information technology experts to build their capability in tracking down contacts and arrest virus transmission.
Magalong said the system is a “powerful tool in establishing the entire picture on the links of the patients” and will help local government units integrate data considering that the contacts of some of the cases are interlinked.
BLISTT border control
Meanwhile, Tuba and Baguio agreed to restrict chicken dung cargo that lack business permits as police forces of Baguio and La Trinidad will confer to align border procedures with stricter measures to be adopted against those abusing food and other travel passes.
The Baguio-La Trinidad-Itogon-Sablan-Tuba-Tublay areas are set to ramp up testing of vulnerable sectors like vegetable dealers and truck drivers. Municipalities were asked to submit a list of priorities for both swab and rapid testing, which will be subject to the availability of kits.
Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center Medical Officer Ricardo Ruñez Jr. said there are test kit allocations for Benguet province but are short in consumables.
Magalong offered some of the city’s rapid test kits for those who will not be covered by the swab tests as he promised to help work out more supplies of test kits and consumables.
Baguio City’s contact tracing system has been lauded for its use of technology and police investigative techniques paired with medical expertise.
Magalong stressed contact tracing is the most important part of fighting the virus.
The city uses both analytical and data collection tools to trace contacts of those infected using the system of the Philippine national police for crime investigation. (With a report from Aileen Refuerzo/Baguio City Public Information Office)