The City Government of San Fernando has started on June 15, 2020 the COVID-19 testing activities for its frontline personnel, as part of its efforts to minimize and drastically reduce or prevent cases in the City.
More than 50 individuals, whose lines of work fall under health, sanitation, and traffic management aspects underwent nasal swab testing during the first day of the testing held at the City’s Emergency Operations Center at the Heroes Hall.
According to Dr. Renely Tungol, officer-in-charge of the City Health Office and Incident Commander of the Incident Management Team, the main objective of the activity is to make the personnel feel safe and valued.
“Simula noong Marso, ang mga frontline personnel ay nagta-trabaho na upang malabanan ang COVID-19 at kasama sila sa tinatawag nating ‘high risk groups.’ Kaya naman, naging inisyatiba ng lokal na pamahalaan ang unti-unti silang i-test upang mapanatili silang ligtas mula sa sakit dahil exposed sila at upang maipakita natin ang pagpapahalaga at concern sa kanila,” Tungol explained.
Tungol added the specimens will be forwarded to the Molecular Pathology laboratory of the City’s partner hospital, Green City Medical Center, which is now ready to accept reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests for the disease, following the passage of its proficiency testing by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine of the Department of Health.
“Ang kadalasang ‘turnaround time’ ng laboratoryo para sa mga resulta ay dalawang araw at kapag ang indibidwal ay nagpositibo, siya ay dadalhin natin sa ating isolation facility upang makakuha ng serbisyong medikal,” she remarked.
The testing activities for the CSF-LGU’s at least 400 frontline personnel will be conducted daily and targets to test at least 100 individuals in the next sessions.
Apart from the frontline personnel, the City is also set to conduct the similar activity, prioritizing all the Fernandino suspected cases in the communities. (PR)