The city continues to enhance its control mechanisms to prevent the community transmission of the dreaded Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) with the identification of quarantine and isolation facilities in each of the 128 barangays.
Mayor Benjamin B. Magalong ordered the City Health Services Office (CHSO) and the Liga ng mga Barangay to start coordinating with the barangay officials for the immediate identification of quarantine and isolation facilities in the barangays where asymptomatic COVID-19 patients and those with mild symptoms of the deadly virus will be referred.
The identification of barangay quarantine and isolation facilities is part of the city’s compliance to the marching orders from the inter-agency task force for the management of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases that asymptomatic COVID-19 cases and those with mild symptoms should not undergo home quarantine but they should be referred to established quarantine or isolation facilities.
Councilor Michael L. Lawana said he will closely coordinate with City Health officer Dr. Rowena Galpo to consolidate their efforts in the identification of the appropriate quarantine and isolation facilities in the barangays or the identification of the areas where such facilities will be established through the use of available funds from the city government.
He added that evaluation and assessments will be done on existing structures in the barangays that could be converted into quarantine and isolation facilities while the identification of areas where such facilities could be built will be done in barangays that do not have feasible structures to be converted into isolation units so that the put up of the said quarantine facilities will be pursued.
On his part, City Administrator Bonifacio dela Peña informed city councilors during last Monday’s regular session of the city council that there are already available proto-types for quarantine and isolation facilities that could be used for such purpose, especially if the identified areas in the barangays will be feasible for such structures.
He claimed the construction of a quarantine and isolation facilities range from P400,000 and above depending on the materials used to ensure the immediate operation of the said facilities following the surge in the number of COVID-19 cases in the city over the past several days which warrants the importance of putting up the said facilities in the barangays.
The City Council subsequently passed a resolution recommending to Mayor Benjamin B. Magalong to use the remaining P8 million from the city’s P78 million Bayanihan grant for the put up of barangay quarantine and isolation facilities that have available sites to ensure the city’s compliance to the national directive.
The council stipulated the city must start investing on the put up of the quarantine and isolation facilities to help decongest the existing private and public health facilities from asymptomatic COVID-19 cases and those with mild symptoms that could be accommodated in the said facilities.
By Dexter A. See
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