THE DEPARTMENT of Health (DOH), which is spearheading the government’s overall game plan to defeat COVID-19 second year into the pandemic, said it will focus on community interventions rather than use Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test that is very useful to immediately detect, isolate and quarantine individuals who are positive with the coronavirus. Testing will be done for proper clinical management of high risk patients, community management, isolation and vaccination.
DOH also said contact tracing will take a back seat.
We cannot fathom, much less understand, the logic behind this policy. We already don’t have free mass testing. And now DOH is still scaling testing down?
DOH is also not prioritizing anymore contact tracing as part of its COVID-19 response strategy. It is mind-boggling.
Testing and contact tracing are measures are necessary to isolate and treat people infected with the coronavirus and prevent the spread of the highly transmissible disease.
This latest shift in DOH policy is a complete abdication and surrender, and not a strategy in controlling the dizzying speed of Omicron spread across the country. This is a big mistake and could prove costly.
DOH should in fact make COVID testing accessible and affordable, if not free at all, to encourage more people to get tested following the spike in coronavirus infection.
Contact tracing is part of the playbook to control the pandemic. Test, trace, isolate, quarantine. Then, vaccinate and booster,
Without contact tracing, we will never know those in contact with the infected and we will never stop the viral transmission.
