BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – Negros Occidental’s provincial administrator, Atty. Rayfrando Diaz, said the province has no policy yet on the shortened quarantine period for fully vaccinated individuals exposed to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) positive cases.
Diaz made the clarification following the announcement of Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque on Wednesday that all individuals including those fully vaccinated against COVID-19 must still undergo the mandatory 14-day quarantine period.
According to Diaz, he and Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson were discussing the issue.
“Basta mag-contact tracing ‘ta and maigo ka as a close contact even if fully vaccinated ka pa, we cannot treat you differently,” he stressed.
Regardless of vaccination status, close contacts would be required to undergo reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing and quarantine pending the results.
Even though the anti-COVID-19 jabs do not offer a 100 percent protection (a person may still contract COVID), the vaccine’s promise is it prevents a person from falling critically ill, prevents hospitalization and ultimately prevents death, Diaz explained.
Based on the National Inter-Agency Task Force (NIATF) decision on Tuesday, Roque said they were temporarily suspending the protocol that allowed for a shortened quarantine period for fully vaccinated individuals who are close contacts of probable and confirmed COVID-19 cases.
The said protocol, contained in Paragraph C of IATF Resolution No. 124-B series of 2021 issued on July 2, 2021, stated that fully vaccinated individuals may undergo a shortened seven-day quarantine period, provided they remain asymptomatic for the duration of the seven-day period.
The decision to temporarily suspend the said protocol is part of the government’s continued implementation of proactive measures to slow down the surge in COVID-19 cases and to stop the further spread of the variants, Roque said./PN
