City’s COVID-19 Contact Tracing capability, bared
BAGUIO CITY – (05 May 2021) – “Access to basic health care services is a human right and its effective and efficient delivery is our mandate. As we continue to hurdle the trials from this (coronavirus-2019) pandemic as a city, there is no stopping in the delivery of these services.”
Thus, declared city health services office (CHSO) head Dr. Rowena Galpo in Monday’s flag-raising rites before local officials led by Mayor Benjamin Magalong, Rep. Mark Go and Vice-Mayor Faustino Olowan.
She disclosed that currently, the Summer Capital has a contact tracing efficiency of 1:16 where 46 percent of close contacts of covid patients are traced within 24 hours.
The city’s contact tracing teams are adequate with reinforcement from police personnel and complemented by those from the CHSO and barangay health and emergency response teams , she claimed.
Galpo said her office is working with the City Mayor’s Office’s management information technology division to enhance the digital capability of the contact tracing process and is in partnership with the UP Baguio team where the CHSO receives technical inputs on contract tracing data analytics.
A total of 166,231 tests has been conducted with 110,528 individuals tested so far, she said.
Galpo said the city’s isolation/quarantine beds to population is adequate at one bed to 480 patients and the city has five isolation and quarantine facilities with 780 bed capacity. Two of the facilities are Philhealth accredited.
Triage facilities were set up at Baguio Convention Center and Teachers Camp catering to visitors, returning Baguio residents and overseas Filipinos. Manpower for the isolation facilities are provided by the Department of Health.
As of April 29, this year, a total of 5,180 clients have been admitted in all the facilities, she said.
“We can only do so much and our appeal is for all Baguio residents to protect themselves to protect us. We have to be reminded that as we provide selfless care, we must also make available time for self-care,” Galpo said. – Gaby B. Keith
