LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The municipal government is eyeing the completion of its additional 45-bed isolation facility in Longlong, Puguis to increase the capacity of its isolation units to accommodate the increasing number of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases following the threats of the more infectious Delta variant.
Mayor Romeo K. Salda stated that there is a kind-hearted individual who purchased some container vans which the municipal government converted into a temporary isolation center to help in providing adequate quarantine and isolation facilities to the increasing number of COVID-19 patients.
He disclosed that the ongoing put up of the additional isolation unit might be completed probably by the end of the month or the first week of September so that the additional beds will be available for occupancy by the suspected or probable COVID-19 cases required to undergo facility-based isolation.
Among the existing isolation units of the municipal government include a 40-bed isolation center in a private institution which is being rented by the municipality through the Oplan Kalinga, the 20-bed isolation unit in its senior citizens center, the 20-bed Strawberry Hotel devoted as quarantine facility for returning Overseas Filipino Workers and within the temporary treatment and monitoring facility and some structures owned by the Benguet State University (BSU) and the Puguis Elementary School.
Earlier, the municipal inter-agency task force prohibited the implementation of home isolation for suspected and probable COVID-19 patients to prevent the clustering of cases among households and contain the surge in the number of cases, especially with the emerging threat of the more infectious Delta variant.
Mayor Salda expressed his gratitude to the concerned residents in the municipality for their contributions in the implementation of existing health and safety protocols that allow the local government to be able to contain the rapid spread of the virus to avert its negative impact to the local health care system and the frontliners.
The local chief executive added that the Aboitiz-owned HEDCOR, Inc. will allow the local government to use 2 container vans complete with comfort rooms as part of its additional isolation units for COVID patients being required to undergo the facility-based isolation to recover from the deadly virus.
He admitted that there has been a recorded increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in the municipality over the past several days that is why the local government continues to need more isolation centers to allow the strict implementation of facility-based isolation that is why the municipality welcomes the contribution of concerned sectors in increasing the available isolation beds for the confirmed COVID-19 patients.
He appealed to the patients being required to undergo the facility-based isolation to understand the reason behind the enforcement of the said policy as it will be for the welfare of their family members and their close contacts so that they will not eventually contract the deadly virus. By HENT
