ANGELES City Mayor Carmelo Lazatin Jr. has provided additional 206 hotel rooms as Covid-19 facilities for confirmed patients who are asymptomatic and with mild symptoms to address the city’s growing need for isolation areas.
The facilities are meant to supplement the initial 106 hotel rooms designated by the City Government, adding to a total of 312 additional isolation facilities for asymptomatic and patients with mild symptoms.
The City Government aims to isolate all the new positive Covid-19 patients and avoid having them quarantined in their own homes.
In line with this directive, Lazatin has ordered the extraction of all the Covid-19 positive patients who are currently quarantined in their homes.
“Ayaw po nating malagay pa sa peligro ang mas nakakarami, kaya iniiwasan natin ang pag-ho-home quarantine ng mga pasyenteng may Covid-19. Sinisikap po nating maglaan ng mga isolation facilities para sa kanila,” Lazatin said.
Since March of this year, the city has seen a surge in the number of new Covid-19 cases, ranging from 20 to 100 per day.
Due to the sudden influx of patients, the city’s hospitals and quarantine facilities have been overwhelmed.
“Sa ngayon po kasi, nagkakaroon po tayo ng delay sa pag-asikaso ng mga bagong positibong kaso ng Covid-19. Hindi po dahil mabagal ang sistema natin, kung hindi dahil kasalukuyan nating inaayos ang mga karagdagang quarantine facilities. Alam naman po nating lahat ng mga pasilidad natin ay napupuno, ospital man o quarantine facilities,” Lazatin added.
“Kaya nagpapasalamat po tayo sa mga miyembro ng Hotel and Restaurants Association in Pampanga (Harp), dahil sa pag-volunteer na gamitin ng city government ang ilan sa kanilang mga pasilidad bilang isolation rooms,” he added.
Rafael Lazatin Memorial Medical Center’s officer-in-charge Dr. Froilan Canlas also shared that asymptomatic patients and those with mild symptoms who will be isolated at these hotels will be monitored regularly by RLMMC personnel.
However, patients should be assessed first at the RLMMC, before they can be confined or isolated in the said isolation facilities.
“Hindi po basta-basta pwedeng dumiretso o mag ‘walk-in’ sa mga hotels na ito, para i-confine ang sarili. May sinusunod po tayong protocol para dito,” Canlas said.
According to Lazatin’s Chief Adviser and Tactician IC Calaguas, the City Government is also continuously conducting intensive contact tracing by providing free Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) to all identified close contacts.
“Aktibo po ang mga Barangay Health Emergency Response Team sa 33 barangays. Mayroon po tayong sinusunod na ‘command system and response,’ pagdating sa Covid-19 situations. Sineseguro po natin na matugunan agad ang mga mai-re-report na Covid-19 cases,” Calaguas said.