BACOLOD City – The free coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) testing for vendors of three major markets here begins today.
Mayor Evelio Leonardia made mandatory the “surveillance testing” for vendors at Libertad, Burgos and Central markets. He issued Executive Order No. 66 for this on Thursday.
Executive Assistant Ernie Pineda, cluster head on markets, said they target to test around 2,000 vendors in one day.
Leonardia tasked the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) Task Force to spearhead the initiative along with a team of experts from the Department of Health Region 7.
“The decisive actions taken by the EOC are gaining favorable and progressive momentum as of this time,” the mayor said.
Under Leonardia’s directive, vendors who are willing to submit themselves for diagnostic test will be issued a permission ticket or market pass to gain access to their stalls inside the markets or allowed to sell in the premises of the markets.
Apart from being issued the market pass, cooperative vendors shall have their stalls area posted with notice “compliant.”
“In the event that vendors turned out positive for COVID-19, they will be extracted to be committed for isolation under our existing quarantine policies,” said Leonardia.
Pineda clarified that 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 said.
Earlier, Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran met with the fish vendors of the Burgos Public Market to clarify issues on the surveillance testing.
Familiaran said the fish vendors requested for a dialog to clarify the misinformation that said those who will be swabbed will undergo a 14-day quarantine period and if they test positive for the COVID-19 virus, their family members will undergo swab testing at their own expense.
He said other issues raised during the dialog were the closure of the whole market if a vendor or vendors tests positive for the virus.
Familiaran said the vendors also asked about the medical expense and the daily food supply of their families if they are made to undergo quarantine. The vendors said their young children need milk while the city government only provides rice and canned goods for food assistance.
The vice mayor explained that the surveillance testing is being implemented simultaneously throughout the country as mandated by the national government.
Surveillance testing is being adapted by the city government from Cebu City where it had been proven effective in curbing the spread of COVID-19./PN
