IATF to businesses: Follow protocols

CEBU, Philippines — From household transmission, the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases is shifting its focus on possible business-based virus transmission now that the government is taking steps to revive the local economy.

Retired General Melquiades Feliciano, deputy chief implementer of IATF in the Visayas, thus appealed to business owners in Cebu City to strictly follow protocols in reopening their businesses to prevent another surge in coronavirus cases.

“From ECQ to MECQ, the focus of the contact tracing was at the community level. Of course, movement was restricted at the time. We were focusing on the household transmission, so most of the cases most of the time were from household transmission,” Feliciano told reporters in a virtual presser yesterday.

As movement is less restricted nowadays and some businesses are already allowed to open at certain capacities, Cebu City emergency operations center (EOC) is zeroing on business-related cases.

“It’s a new experience for everyone. We are focused on this now, on how to contain the spread sa mga business establishments here in Cebu City,” said Feliciano.

The remarks came on the heels of reports about a hotel and a business process outsourcing company which have been found violating the executive order of Mayor Edgardo Labella.

Escario Central

“What happened in Escario Central Hotel was that there were three positive patients accommodated in that hotel,” said Feliciano.

The three were all locals who were working in the same company that Feliciano did not name.

The problem, according to Feliciano, was that the hotel was not authorized to accept guests yet as it did not have Department of Health accreditation, although the hotel management had reportedly submitted an application.

Labella’s EO 086 states that “no hotel or accommodation establishment shall be allowed to operate, except those accommodating guests who have existing booking accommodations for foreigners as of May 1 of this year, guests with existing long-term bookings, distressed OFWs and stranded individuals, repatriated OFWs in compliance with approved quarantine protocols, non-OFWs who are required to undergo mandatory facility-based quarantine and health care workers and other employees from exempted establishments. They also need to secure certificate of authority to operate by the Department of Tourism (DOT).”

“In that case, there is a clear violation of the protocols on how to accommodate, especially COVID positives,” Feliciano said of the hotel’s operation.

Escario Central, for its part, explained that it has been accepting guests from government agencies that needed accommodation for their medical workers or guests duly recommended and approved by the DOH and passed to it by its sister hotel, St. Mark Hotel, which was said to be a certified hotel partner of DOH.

But the EOC discovered that there were other guests in Escario: 34 employees of a BPO, 12 hotel staff and security guards, all of whom had been staying there before the COVID-positive guests were pulled out and moved to another facility.

This prompted a test on the guests, hotel staff and guards, one of whom was found positive.

Escario Central yesterday insisted it was never closed but Feliciano said otherwise.

“I just talked to the manager. They will comply with the requirements like decontamination before they will open,” Feliciano said via text message.

Azpired floor locked down

Meanwhile, one of the three floors occupied by outsourcing company Azpired Inc. at the Cebu IT Park was locked down after an employee was found positive for coronavirus.

Seven others who were staying in one of the floors converted as billeting quarters are now considered probable carriers.

Feliciano said the EOC was not informed of such setup, which he described as “not an ideal one.”

Worse, he found out that one of the probables managed to go home to Barangay Talamban, which may spur a possible household transmission.

“The EOC is very serious in dealing with COVID positives and even those suspected or probable to prevent the spread of the virus again,” said Feliciano.

For those establishments that need help, Feliciano said the EOC and the City Health Department are willing to assist them on concerns on safety and health protocols.

The August 12 data from DOH-7 showed that Cebu City had 1,690 active cases, 39 of which new, along with 6,996 total recoveries and 605 total deaths. /JMD (FREEMAN)