GUAGUA, Pampanga — Guagua Mayor Dante Torres assured it is now safe to buy products at the town’s public market, after it reopened to the public.
By virtue of a resolution from the Municipal Task Force on COVID-19, the market has reopened since October not only for the residents of the town but also for its neighboring towns including Sasmuan, Sta. Rita, Minalin, Bacolor, Lubao, Floridablanca and Porac.
According to Torres, market-goers have nothing to fear now because the municipal government has made sure that the market is clean before they decided to open it.
He said with the help of the provincial government, market vendors were given 700 free slots for swab testing.
“Of the 700 vendors and market officials, less than 600 availed of the free swab testing. The good is that, only less than 10 individuals or only about two percent tested positive for coronavirus disease or COVID-19. So far, these individuals already recovered,” Torres said.
On the part of the local government, the mayor said they require market vendors to submit health declaration forms and have an x-ray before they can be allowed to sell again.
“Vendors who developed pneumonia based on the results of their x-ray were not allowed to sell for the meantime; instead, we help them recover by giving them medicines,” the local chief said.
In addition, Guagua has implemented guidelines not only for vendors but also for consumers such as wearing face masks and face shields, and observing social distancing to prevent the spread of such the virus.
Also, four wash areas have also been set up in the market so that market-goers can wash their hands.
They also gave thermal scanners to the vendors so they can monitor the temperature of their customers.
He said the local government strictly enforces the minimum health protocols, especially in the public market, and anyone caught violating these will be fined or be required to render community service.
It can be recalled that the 14-day lockdown was implemented in the market last month, and only residents from Guagua were allowed to shop in the market afterwards. This is after a market vendor and staff tested positive for COVID-19, which led to an increase in cases in town.