The City Government of Davao is tapping private sectors to strengthen the contact-tracing efforts by providing orientations on how to carry out the activity and identify people who have been exposed to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Davao City COVID-19 Task Force spokesperson Dr. Michelle Schlosser, during Wednesday’s COVID-19 Alert program on Davao City Disaster Radio, said that they are now providing training to private establishments to fast-track the tracing of F1 or first-generation contact of a confirmed positive case; F2 or second-generation contact or those who have close contact with F1; and F3 or third-generation contact or those who have close contact with F2.
She said that before her interview on Wednesday, she came from a training participated in by commercial banks in the city. This industry is one of the sectors that logged a huge number of COVID-19 cases in the previous month.
“Nag-conduct ta og contact tracing training for the business sector – sa mga bangko, para they know also on how to do their own contact-tracing kay kabalo man ta kung unsa ka importante ang contact tracing (We conducted contact-tracing training for the business sector, the banks, so they will know how to do their own contact-tracing because we all know how important it is). So we are teaching these individuals or these establishments so they will better identify who are their close contacts,” Schlosser said.
The COVID-19 Task Force official noted that contact tracing would be more effective if the people who would inform the concerned individuals that they are exposed are familiar to them. They observed that those who had contacts with positive patients are apprehensive to submit themselves to swab tests.
“With the safety officer of each of the establishment, magtabangay sila with the contact tracer nato. Naa tay direct access sa ilahang organic contact tracer so mas ma-identify nato ang F1, F2, and F3. Mas easier ang communication with them (they will work hand-in-hand with our contact tracer. We will now have direct access to their organic contact tracer so we can better identify who are the F1, F2, and F3. The communication would be easier with them),” she said.
During the orientation, Schlosser said that they educate the participants on how to conduct the proper contact-tracing and significantly help identify individuals and then subject them to swabbing. With this, it will further prevent potential lockdowns of the concerned establishment since they have already determined individuals that need isolation.
“Kabalo man ta nga detrimental ni siya sa atong economy. Kung naa tay pagtinabangay sa atong private sectors, dako ug chance nga macut-off ang chain of infection, dili pa gyud ta maka hurt sa atong ekonomiya (We know that lockdown is detrimental to our economy. If we have the cooperation of our private sector, there is a huge chance that we will cut the chain of infection),’ she added.
She underscored that the first recipient of their training is the business process outsourcing companies (BPO) companies. It can be recalled that in June, there was a surge of COVID-19 cases among workers in this industry that led to the lockdown of big BPO companies for disinfection and decontamination.
Based on their monitoring, they observed a downtrend in cases among this sector, noting that these establishments are very cooperative in the city’s effort by following the set safety guidelines.
Schlosser meanwhile thanked the private sector for their support to the government and for their willingness to help the local government in its fight against the global pandemic. CIO
