BAGUIO CITY – The city government tapped the expertise of well trained investigators of the Philippine National Police (PNP) to assist the contact tracers of the City Health Services Office (CHSO) to close the gaps in the contact tracing of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) cases in the city.
Mayor Benjamin B. Magalong said the city government also borrowed the software being used by the PNP in their investigations to use to enhance the contact tracing of the close contacts of the COVID-19 cases for them to be advised to go on the prescribed 14-day mandatory quarantine and for those with evident symptoms of the illness to undergo the required swab test and submitted for screening and confirmatory test at the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC).
He added an investigator will be designated by the PNP to accompany the contact tracers during the contact tracing of the close contacts of the COVID-19 cases to ensure the appropriate information will be culled out from those that tested positive for the deadly virus to ensure there will be no contacts left out.
The city chief executive said the police investigators going with the contact tracers will either be in plain clothes or in complete uniform depending on the attitude of the confirmed COVID-19 patient to ensure he or she will divulge all the needed information on their close contacts for them to be given the appropriate advise on what to do to prevent the further local transmission of the contagious virus in the city.
According to him, the city government is satisfied with the contact racing being done by the assigned health workers but there are still gaps that need to be closed, thus, the active involvement of the trained police investigators in this task to ensure all information will be culled out from the confirmed COVID-19 patients with the assistance of the investigation software.
The Baguio City Police Office (BCPO) has some 20 well trained investigators who previously underwent the prescribed investigation trainings given by foreign governments tapped by the city government to assist contact tracers in tracing close contacts of the identified COVID-19 cases in the city.
The city government is intent on aggressively identifying the close contacts of the COVID-19 patients as part of the precautionary measures to prevent the further local transmission of the deadly virus as there is already a case of local transmission of the illness that could escalate if not prevented soonest.
City officials and health authorities predict there will be a significant increase in the number of COVID-19 cases not only in the city but also in the region with the designation of the BGHMC as an independent COVID-19 testing center capable of providing initial screening and confirmatory tests to persons with moderate and severe symptoms of the virus.
Moreover, confirmatory test results of a number of swab samples earlier sent to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) are also being awaited by these persons under investigation (PUIs) who were initially subjected to initial screening at the BGHMC sub-national testing center.
By Dexter A. See
