City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO) head Antonette Anaban shared updates on the Summer Capital’s contingency plan for the coronavirus disease 2019 Delta variant as of August 16 in Tuesday’s regular management committee meeting led by Mayor Benjamin Magalong at Baguio Convention Center.
The plan’s key areas are border control; vaccination program; regulated movement of vulnerable age group; Minimum Public Health Standards (MPHS) compliance monitoring; aggressive contact tracing/active case finding; expanded risk-based/targeted testing; isolation/quarantine policy; granular lockdowns; real-time referral and coordination of cases; and acceleration-deceleration strategy of hospitals.
Referral of non-covid cases to Baguio; inventory and/or procurement of critical equipment; stockpiling of critical supplies and medicines; sustained supply of disinfectant; management of the dead; mental health and wellness program; promote the full operationalization of telemedicine/teleconsultation.
Triaging at workplace and reiteration of protocol ordinance; alternative work arrangement; temporary liquor ban; close coordination with regional/national agencies in the conduct of major events; implementation of rolling stores; and mass gathering, are the other areas.
Her report states that testing requirement for unvaccinated APORS/non-residents, especially those coming from ECQ/MECQ/GCQ with heightened or additional restrictions is a negative RT-PCR and not antigen result. Travelers are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after the second dose or one dose for single-dose vaccine.
As to the vaccination program, a total of 201,307 doses have been administered with 88,781 individuals being fully vaccinated as of August 16.
In the monitoring of compliance with MPHS, a total of 147 local establishments were inspected with 108 passing the safety seal; 24 for inspection; and 39 establishments for re-inspection by a constituted inspection team.
The report stated that 34 contact tracers have been renewed by the city and that schedules for aggressive testing are on August 13-14 at Camp John Hay and August 19-21 at Melvin Jones, Burnham Park.
Utilization rate of the city’s isolation facilities is at 32.65 percent while that of quarantine is 32.99 percent.
Other updates include the donation of one ambulance to the city; submission of a daily situation report by the Emergency Medical Service to the CDRRMO for daily consolidation; daily situation report of covid-19 cases prepared by CDRRMO; working senior citizens and employees with comorbidities to be prioritized work from home or other alternative work arrangements; and more.-Gaby B. Keith