MANILA - Contact tracing in the Southern Tagalog Region or Calabarzon slightly worsened during the two-week modified enhanced community quarantine that began Aug. 4, even after government authorities vowed to use the period to recalibrate its pandemic response strategy, a government report showed Tuesday.
Contact tracing in the region--home to several industrial plants and economic zones--deteriorated to authorities tracing only around 4 close contacts per COVID-19 patient while parts of the region were under MECQ, according to the report of contact tracing czar Baguio Mayor Benjamin Magalong.
Before the stricter lockdown, Calabarzon could trace 5 close contacts of each COVID-19 patient, the report showed.
The ratio is a far cry from the ideal 1:30 to 1:37 ratio set by Magalong.
Three of the the region's five provinces--Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal--were placed under MECQ, along with Metro Manila, until Aug. 18.
Screenshot from contact tracing czar Baguio Mayor Benjamin Magalong's presentation
Screenshot from contact tracing czar Baguio Mayor Benjamin Magalong's presentation
Screenshot from contact tracing czar Baguio Mayor Benjamin Magalong's presentation
A sharp contrast from Calabarzon is neighboring Mimaropa Region--which had the highest contact tracing ratio, with authorities able to trace 27 close contacts of each COVID-19 patient.
This is followed by the Cordillera Administrative Region, with authorities capacitated to trace 22 close contacts of 1 person infected with the virus.
Magalong said the aim is to capacitate local government units to be able to trace 30 to 37 close contacts of a coronavirus patient.
"Kulang po ang active involvement ng ating mga mayors. Gusto ko lang pong i-emphasize dito na sana po, ang ating mga mayors will be directly involved sa contact tracing," he said Tuesday in a Palace press briefing.
(Our mayors lack active involvement. I want to emphasize the need for mayors to be directly involved in contact tracing.)
METRO MANILA SITUATION
While contact tracing in Metro Manila--the country's coronavirus epicenter--improved, it still has a long way to go before it meets the government's target ratio.
During the two-week MECQ, Metro Manila was only able to improve its contact tracing efforts to 5 close contacts per COVID-19 patient, from the previous ratio of 3 close contacts per patient.
"Kung tatanungin ninyo ako kung masaya ba tayo sa figure na ito, talaga hong kulang na kulang pa ho," Magalong said.
(If you will ask me if this figure is enough, it is still very lacking.)
Magalong, whose contact tracing system that makes use of a police investigation format has been hailed, said questionairres would be distributed this week to different local government units, in a bid to improve systems on the ground.
"Ang kailangan lang po natin na kasagutan dito ay iyong katotohanan. At sana po iyong ating mga local government units ay magbigay ng mga makatotohanan at truthful and honest na data or datos," he said.
(What we need is the truth and I hope the local government units provide honest and truthful data.)
The Philippines has logged close to 170,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases, as of Tuesday, including nearly 54,000 active infections. Its first case was recorded on Jan. 30 in a Chinese woman who arrived from Wuhan City, China where the disease is believed to have first emerged.
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