PCOO PR
MALOLOS, Bulacan—The province-wide Coordinated Operations to Defeat Epidemic (CODE) Meeting was held Friday in Malolos with officials from the local government of Bulacan, Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), and National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19.
During the meeting, Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque III encouraged the local government of Bulacan to increase their testing capacity and to be more aggressive in their contact tracing and isolating efforts.
To augment the need for increased isolation and quarantine facilities in the province, Sec. Duque urged the local government of Bulacan to reach out to the Department of Education to get permission to use public elementary school buildings as quarantine facilities.
Also, he stressed how  low-cost preventive methods against COVID-19 such as wearing of face mask and face shield, and safe physical distancing can greatly minimize the rate of infection.
“If I can recall, the overall risk reduction of wearing a face mask which is at about 85%, face shield 82%, physical distancing within 1 meter distance can provide risk reduction by 81%, 2 meters by 91%, and 3 meters by a staggering 96% risk reduction,” he said.
Adapting a whole-of-nation response against COVID-19
Since the IATF is adapting a whole-of-nation response against COVID-19, IATF-EID Chief Implementer Sec. Carlito G. Galvez, Jr. called for the unification and commitment of the barangays to fasttrack the contact tracing efforts and isolation of those who are COVID-19 positive.
“Kung i-involve po natin ang mga barangay natin sa buong bansa, mayroon po tayong 5.5 million contract tracers. Hindi na po natin kailangang mag-hire [If we involve the barangays all over the country, we will have 5.5 million contact tracers. We don’t have to hire],” Galvez said.
Moreover, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Sec. Ramon Lopez emphasized the role of improved coordination between the companies and the LGUs in testing the workers in the private sector.
“Before the testing, ire-require na mag coordinate yung kompanya at yung LGU para ma-monitor na din ng LGU na may tinest sa kompanya na ito, pati yung resulta ma-track na. Umpisa na rin yun ng contact tracing in effect [Before the testing, we will require the companies to coordinate with the LGU to monitor if workers were tested in this company, even the results will be tracked. It is the start of contact tracing in effect],” Lopez said.
Improved workplace policies for safe revival of economy
With the assistance of the DOH, Sec. Lopez said that they were able to finetune the existing workplace health protocols to ensure the gradual and safe revival of the country’s economy.
“Dati po kasi, nag issue na tayo mga 2 months ago pero nakita natin na may kailangan pang i-improve. Ginawa po nating istrikto iyon with the help of DOH Guidelines [We have issued before, about 2 months ago, but we need to improve it. We made it stricter with the help of the DOH Guidelines],” Sec. Lopez said.
Due to the review of the workplace health protocols by the DOH, the IATF also found out that the removal of face mask while riding company shuttles, public transportation, eating in canteens, and smoking were some of the main causes of workplace transmission of COVID-19.
