Baguio mass testing yields high positivity rate
The recent aggressive community testing (ACT) in the city yielded a high positivity rate, according to the City Health Services Office.
City Health Officer Dr. Rowena Galpo said a total of 1,414 availed of the free RT-PCR tests from the target sectors during the three-day activity sponsored by the Bases Conversion and Development Authority, 520 of whom or 36.8 percent turned out positive for Coronavirus disease (COVID) virus.
Galpo said of the 520, 461 or 32.6 percent were Baguio residents albeit validations were being made as of press time as to their places of residence.
The ACT is regularly done in the city to ramp up testing being one of the control measures to address the current surge in COVID-19 cases believed to be driven by the omicron variant.
“Testing is a way to determine where the infections are coming from. It is a deterrent because we can identify persons who are positive and immediately isolate them to prevent further spread of the virus,” Mayor Benjamin Magalong had said.
The latest ACT, held Jan. 13-15 boosted the city’s testing capacity to an average of 883 a day in the past two weeks. The city normally averages 300-500 tests daily. – Aileen P. Refuerzo