Intensify. Expand. Maximize. These words sum up the plans tackled during the regular huddle of the Bacolod City Emergency Operations Center cluster heads yesterday.
The cluster heads – though some of them are on quarantine themselves – continue to hold the daily meetings, albeit virtually, to discuss new strategies in addressing the alarming increase in the number of Covid-19 cases in Bacolod, a press release from the city said.
City Administrator Em Ang, executive director of the EOC, said that among the matters discussed during the huddle were the intensification of contact tracing, expanding of targeted testing, strictly observing extraction and isolation protocols, and increasing the capacity of quarantine facilities.
“The EOC also tackled continuous coordination with the barangays, the healthcare system, and other sectors,” she added.
AWARENESS NEEDED
The EOC will continue to promote its information and education campaign, with the goal of spreading awareness among Bacolodnons on taking preventive measures against the continuous spread of the dreaded coronavirus.
“Covid-19 is everywhere,” warned EOC deputy medical and volunteer doctor, Chris Sorongon, who tested positive for the disease recently.
To underscore his point on avoiding super spreader events, Sorongon cited a Covid-19 index that contracted the virus while dining in a restaurant in the city.
“Follow minimum health protocols like the wearing of face masks and face shields. Maintain hand hygiene and physical distancing. Please avoid major spreader events like mass gatherings and dining out,” Sorongon said.
Meanwhile, Bacolod City Police Office director, Col. Manuel Placido, committed to deploy additional police officers as augmentation for the contact tracing cluster of the EOC.
Contact tracing head, Dr. Rosalie Deocampo, requested for additional workforce in their operations, saying that the increasing number of cases had resulted in their increased workload.
Created by Executive Order No. 59, series of 2020, the EOC is a centralized, synchronized, collaborated, coordinated, and data-driven body that aims to defeat Covid-19 in Bacolod.
The meeting was joined by EOC deputy for medical, Dr. Anna Maria Laarni Pornan, who is also the head of the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, contact tracing head Police Major Sherlock Gabana, EOC Data Management head Edrian Robete, Dr. Monica Anna Locsin of the Committee of Quarantine Facilities, secretariat head Teresa Manalili, and members of the Extraction Cluster staff.*
