Grim reminder

As I parked at the nearest available slot, I failed to notice the number of cars in the parking lot and it took a while for me to realize that far from being deserted, our intended destination was already busy a half hour after opening time. No, I was not out “malling” but actually driving for someone who had no means of getting to a COVID-19 testing center. So my wife Karen and I took it upon ourselves to arrange and facilitate the COVID-19 saliva test at the nearby Philippine Red Cross satellite facility in Lima Industrial Park. The test was a precautionary effort for someone who regularly went to town to buy supplies or deliver rice in the neighborhood through tricycles. But today was different, so I drove her there with my windows rolled down, face masks on and face shields on defensive mode.

The appointment was at 11:00 a.m. but we decided to come in early and I could just maybe walk around waiting. It was too hot in the concrete jungle, so I stayed in the car and that’s when I realized the many cars driving in, parking or “standing by,” all of them there for one purpose, to be tested. Without any exaggeration, the flow of customers was comparable to customers going into a fast food outlet, buying or dining in and then leaving only to be replaced by another batch of customers, except this one was all about COVID-19 and the grim reminder that not all is well out there.

When we booked the test for our neighbor, it was a choice between the standard nasal-throat swab RT-PCR or the new saliva RT-PCR test. The swab was about P3,800 while the saliva-based test was P2,000. We chose the saliva test primarily for the convenience, non-invasive approach and last for being cheaper by P1,800.

One hour and ten minutes later, I realized that the saliva based RT-PCR test was not necessarily the convenient and cheaper option we imagine it to be. Collecting enough saliva to fill a tube the size small flashlight or ice candy plastic bag is no easy feat. A woman who arrived earlier than we did was still sitting in a corner trying to fill her container. Our neighbor needed a whole hour to fill the required amount and had to sit there in the collection area for a whole hour. That is why I said that it was not necessarily a cheaper option.

If you are a senior citizen or someone who has problems producing urine samples, you might regret having to produce saliva samples. The length of time it requires coupled with the exposure factor in a facility where potentially infected persons are present is an unnecessary risk and one hour is an abundance of time and possibilities to get COVID-19.

To be fair I trust that the Philippine Red Cross has studied the matter and has done everything to prevent such incidents, but if you are in the high risk group just playing safe, over exposure may be your downfall. So in case you need to be tested, I hope this experience will teach you what to know and how to plan your experience and not your exposure.

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I recently saw how several LGUs have conducted their vaccination programs in cities and barangays and in the context of COVID variants being highly transmissible or contagious, the current system is scary! First and foremost, from what I’ve seen, many barangays conduct vaccinations from 8-to-4 or 9-to-5, often in multi-purpose gyms or barangay halls where they form queues, occupy socially distanced seats but with far more people than the IATF allows in restaurants. In other words they are doing the COVID-19 vaccination in the same fashion as election registration, sign ups, etc.

Any notion of by-appointment flies out the window when you discover that appointment does not protect you from being exposed to an unusually high number of people or mass gatherings that are not allowed by the IATF.

First and foremost, the environment, time of day and length of vaccination schedules do not lend themselves to being the appropriate circumstance. Most of the multi-purpose gyms and barangay halls are not insulated, with poor ventilation and this month being the start of summer, someone with half a brain in the IATF should have realized that LGUs should conduct their vaccination programs where people can really socially distance, have enough floor space to distance and should be in facilities that can comfortably accommodate people like a mall, school building, movie house or multi-level parking lot. In the absence of such facilities, the LGU or health unit should schedule vaccinations in numbers that are manageable and designed to handle ONLY 30 to 50 percent or six to nine feet away from each other.

Because we are already in the dry hot season and the majority of people are in urban centers or the NCR, open air vaccinations should start as early as 6 a.m., stop at 11 a.m. and resume maybe at 2:30 or 3 p.m. and carry on until 6 or 7 p.m. This schedule will take into consideration the work schedule of people, the early risers such as senior citizens and the breaks will reduce the stress and rise in blood pressure triggered by the sizzling summer heat. I conferred with a couple of physicians and they too were puzzled at the way vaccinations have been undertaken, especially since the vaccines are highly susceptible to failure due to high temperatures.

Last but not the least, the vaccine czar Carlito Galvez and his associates in the IATF should look into reports that call ups for vaccinations are last minute, not happening or getting mixed up or unpredictable. For the first grading period those implementing the vaccination program get an “F”.

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