Sports center as COVID area

CEBU, Philippines —  To do away with isolation centers in the barangays and to focus manpower in one area, Cebu City Vice Mayor Michael Rama has proposed opening an isolation complex for asymptomatic patients and probable patients.

He is eyeing at the Cebu City Sports Center and the schools beside it, the Abellana National School and the City Central School.

“Let’s remove the BICs (barangay isolation centers) now and bring them there and they will be manned by a medical team. Now, we will have one barangay isolation complex,” Rama told The Freeman.

Rama heads the committee on health at the City Council where he sits as presiding officer.

He said the proposal has been brought to the attention of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) and may be tackled during the next visit of Secretary Roy Cimatu in the city this week.

President Rodrigo Duterte has tasked Cimatu to oversee the implementation of quarantine protocols in Cebu City.

Rama said the location of the sports center is very ideal as it is near hospitals that the city government may tap to lend some health care workers to the isolation complex.

Patients can even do physical fitness activities at sports center, Rama said.

“All the manpower will just be focused in that area and they have the whole sports center where they can walk,” Rama said.

Aside from asymptomatic patients, probable patients or those who are waiting for COVID-19 test results will also have to be housed at the complex, Rama said.

He does not agree sending probable patients home, especially those from slum areas, or putting them together with patients who are already recovering, thus, a separate area at the complex would be ideal.

“This has to be looked into… How can they go on home quarantines when they are living in the riverbanks, in slum areas? It is unrealistic. That’s why I want them to put their feet on the ground,” Rama said.

NOAH Expansion

Aside from the proposed complex, expansion of the New Normal Oasis for Adaption and A Home (NOAH) Complex at the South Road Properties is now underway.

The Department of Public Works and Highway (DPWH) has inspected the NOAH Complex as a possible site for an additional isolation facility.

Rama said there are about 10 hectares near the NOAH Complex that can accommodate another facility so that asymptomatic patients can be removed from the barangays.

Aside from the isolation centers, Cebu City also has three quarantine facilities dedicated for level 2 patients or those with moderate symptoms – the Bayanihan Field Center-SHS, the Cebu City Quarantine Center, and the facility at the IEC complex.  b