Recto urges national government to shoulder swab tests for stranded persons
MANILA, Philippines — If the government can swab test attendees of President Rodrigo Duterte’s State of the Nation Address for coronavirus, then it should do the same to individuals going home to their provinces.
Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto made this statement Wednesday following the gathering of some 8,000 locally stranded individuals—many of whom lost their jobs due to the effects of coronavirus pandemic—at a baseball stadium in Manila over the weekend, violating the government’s physical distancing rules.
Recto said the government should conduct swab tests for people heading to their home provinces for free.
“If we have tested for free those who’ve been on strict quarantine because they’re going to listen to a speech, then all the more we should test exposed individuals who are going home to their loved ones,” the senator said.
“These ‘VIP’ (very important passengers) are entitled to the same gold standard of testing, more so that they’ve been lodged in a place that will check all the boxes in the list of a possible outbreak spot,” he added.
Rapid tests for LSIs
Malacañang admitted Tuesday that lapses were committed when thousands were crammed inside the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex, saying there should be a better system.
At least eight people out of the thousands LSIs tested positive during rapid test, Presidential Management Staff Assistant Secretary Joseph Encabo said.
Rapid antibody tests detect the presence of antibodies in the blood of people believed to have contracted COVID-19. Some medical experts warned against using them as a diagnostic tool because of potential false positives and false negatives.
Meanwhile, swab tests or reverse transcription polymerase chain reactions tests are dubbed by experts as the “gold standard” in coronavirus testing.
Recto said conducting swab testing on LSIs will ease the burden of local governments, which are expected to test returning residents.
“A swab test will ensure that the coronavirus will not be hitchhiking to family reunions. Those positive will be flagged from boarding. And spare understaffed and underfunded LGUs and local hospitals from handling a 'pasa load' from the national government,” he said.
The country has so far tested more than 1.31 million people using RT-PCR tests.
The coronavirus pandemic has so far sickened 85,486 people in the Philippines, with 1,962 deaths.
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