BACOLOD City – Vendors of three major public markets in this city won’t be issued gate passes should they refuse to undergo “pool testing” for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID- 19), said Executive Assistant Ernie Pineda, cluster head on markets.
He encouraged vendors at Libertad, Burgos and Central markets to participate in the pool testing, which will be conducted for free.
“If they (vendors) have no gate pass, they will be barred entry from the markets and could not do business,” Pineda said.
City Administrator Em Ang, executive director of the Emergency Operations Center (EOC), said the schedule for the testing was initially set today, Oct. 3, then moved to Oct. 10 due to changes in the schedule of the team of experts from the Department of Health Region 7, said Ang.
“Dr. Jean Loreche, the head of Pathology Department and chief medical technician Prince Balaba cannot be here this weekend due to urgent matters in Cebu. They have rescheduled their trip next weekend and they will also be bringing the logistics,” the councilor further explained.
Pool testing is being adapted by the city government from Cebu City where it had been proven effective in curbing the spread of COVID-19.
The United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines pool testing – sometimes referred to pooled testing or batch testing – as a means of “combining respiratory samples from several people and conducting one laboratory test on the combined pool of samples” to detect presence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
Pineda said vendors could still do business even after they got swab since they will not be immediately quarantined.
“We can’t quarantine them after the swabbing because they are not involved in contact tracing, so we have to wait their results. If they turned out positive, so that is the time they will be isolated,” he added./PN
