ILOILO City – The Department of Health (DOH) ordered local government units (LGUs) in Western Visayas to form contact tracing teams on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
The more contact tracers the faster it gets to identify suspect and probable COVID-19 cases and isolate them, said Dr. Jane Juanico, head of DOH Region 6’s Infectious Disease Section.
As of last week, DOH-6 counted 3,437 contact tracers across the region. Of these,2,201 completed training conducted by the regional health office.
Here’s the breakdown of the contact tracers:
* Negros Occidental – 296 (trained)
* Iloilo province – 1,403 (687 trained, 716 untrained)
* Capiz – 52 (trained)
* Bacolod City – 26 (trained)
* Iloilo City – 60 (trained)
* Guimaras – 81 (trained)
* Antique – 782 (262 trained, 520 untrained)
* Aklan – 737 (trained)
As of July 12, Western Visayas had a total of 461 confirmed COVID-19 cases with 11 deaths and 178 cases who recovered – leaving the region with 272 active cases, DOH-6 data showed.
Here’s the breakdown of the 461 cases – Aklan, six; Antique, 15; Capiz, six; Guimaras, zero; Iloilo province, 42; Negros Occidental, eight; Bacolod City, 11; Iloilo City, 36; and repatriates, 337.
According to Juanico, the 3,437 contact tracers represent 34 percent of the target 9,958 tracers DOH-6 hopes LGUs would be able to hire.
The ideal ratio is one contact tracer per 800 population, she added.
Juanico said it appears that LGUs with no COVID-19 cases do not have or have very few contact tracers.
These LGUs should not wait for COVID-19 cases to surge in their turfs before organizing their contact tracers, she stressed.
“Active surveillance” of people with respiratory illness is important, said Juanico, in curbing the spread of COVID-19 cases.
These people could be suspect or probable COVID-19 cases, she explained.
Contact tracing teams may be made up of barangay officials, Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams, midwives, nurses, and Philippine National Police members, among others, said Juanico./PN
