AT LEAST 10 establishments, including national and local government offices, are under granular lockdown as of Wednesday, January 26, according to a Covid-19 Task Force official.
“Naa ta mga (There are) government agencies, both national and local offices. We are doing the lockdown but granular lockdown,” said Dr. Michelle Schlosser, spokesperson of the Davao City Covid-19 task Force, in a radio interview on Wednesday, January 26.
Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio also said on Monday, January 24, that the City Government no longer imposes total lockdowns per barangay or street, but rather granular lockdowns of households or establishments.
“Yes, dugay na ta wala naga-impose og lockdown sa barangay or street (It has been a while since we stopped imposing barangay or street lockdowns),” said the mayor.
Schlosser said the granular lockdown was adopted from the zoning containment strategy of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EMD) that implements varying levels of quarantine.
“When you say granular lockdown, for instance naa ta isa ka opisina or establishment na katong office lang na to or division ang naay cases, kato ra pud atong i-lockdown, dili tanan department (When a division or department of an office or establishment records multiple cases, that is the only part that will have a lockdown),” said Schlosser.
As of January 24, 822 households have been put under lockdown, according to Duterte-Carpio, as well as one compound and one building that were not specified.
The Covid-19 Task Force follows risk assessments beforehand to determine whether or not granular lockdown is needed. Currently, Schlosser said 20 establishments from different areas are being assessed by the district health offices.
“Depende sa risk assessment sa atong district health offices kung necessary ba mag granular lockdown or kinahanglan lang mag decontamination and quarantine of those affected (It will depend on the risk assessment of our district health offices if it will be necessary to place an establishment on lockdown or if they will only need to decontaminate and quarantine those affected),” she said.
According to the spokesperson, certain parameters are taken into consideration for risk assessments, such as ventilation in the establishment, whether offices are practicing social distancing and alternative work arrangements, if the establishment has proper sanitation, common areas, and if a person with comorbidity is present in the establishment.
“If dili lang taas ang risk of spread on that particular establishment, dili necessary na i-hamper ang operation (If the risk of spreading is not high, it is not necessary to hamper their operations),” she said. “Which is still effective, ma-contain man gihapon nato ang growth or number of cases ana na particular area (We can still contain the growth of cases in that area).”
Schlosser said they are avoiding total lockdowns, saying it is detrimental for the economy and the establishments.
“Unlike before, we are doing a total lockdown which is very detrimental [to the] operations, sa atong [of] establishment and business,” she said. “We are trying to make sure na mag thrive and both areas, ang economy and atong health.”