A DAVAO City health official said the city is now adopting the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) Resolution No. 142, which reduces the quarantine period of asymptomatic but fully vaccinated individuals, who have close contact with a known positive patient, from 14 days to seven days.
Speaking over the Davao City Disaster Radio (DCDR), Davao City Covid-19 Task Force spokesperson Dr. Michelle Schlosser said on Wednesday, October 13, 2021, that during the meeting with the Task Force, they agreed to adopt the new resolution that will cut the quarantine time.
“Based sa napag-usapan, Davao City will be adopting the resolution. As of October 8, this resolution was released. Last Monday, we had a talk with the Covid-19 Task Force meeting [regarding] this resolution. Fully vaccinated (individuals) will undergo a (shorter) quarantine period instead of (the) 14 days na typical,” Schlosser said.
In July, the IATF released the resolution initially allowing fully vaccinated individuals who are close contacts of probable and confirmed Covid-19 cases to just undergo a seven-day quarantine period as long as they do not exhibit symptoms.
However, Davao City Mayor Inday Sara Duterte did not apply it to the city since it is still far from achieving herd immunity. The resolution was later suspended due to a surge of Covid-19 cases.
Under the new resolution, fully vaccinated individuals who are in close contact with probable and confirmed Covid-19 cases may undergo a seven-day quarantine period provided that the individual remains asymptomatic for the duration of the seven days with the first day being the date immediately after the last exposure.
If a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test needs to be performed on the asymptomatic individual, it may be tested not earlier than the fifth day after the date of the last exposure. For close contacts who may have been traced beyond the seventh day from last exposure and who have remained asymptomatic, no testing and quarantine shall be required.
The IATF resolution added that should an individual’s RT-PCR test yield a positive result or he/she becomes symptomatic, he/she shall follow the prescribed testing and isolation protocols.
According to the Department of Health (DOH), a person is considered exposed to an infected individual if he has a “face-to-face contact within one meter and for at least 15 minutes, direct physical contact, direct care for a patient without using personal protective equipment, or other situations as indicated by local risk assessments.”
“Given that they are asymptomatic [they will have shortened quarantine days]. Wala silay symptoms. Kasi kung symptomatic, kailangan sila mag quarantine kay ma-fall sila sa ILI (influenza-like illness) katong patients with ILI and they have to be swabbed (They should not exhibit symptoms. If they are symptomatic, they need to undergo quarantine because they will fall under the ILI and they have to be swabbed),” she added.
On the other hand, unvaccinated or partially vaccinated individuals who may be close contacts of suspect, probable, and confirmed Covid-19 cases shall undergo the 14-day quarantine.
Meanwhile, an individual shall be considered as having been fully vaccinated for Covid-19 if it has been more than or equal to 2 weeks after having received the second dose in a 2-dose series; or more than or equal to 2 weeks after having received a single-dose vaccine.
The vaccines administered to the individual must be included on Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) List or Compassionate Special Permit (CSP) issued by the Philippine Food and Drug Administration; or Emergency Use Listing of the World Health Organization. (PR)