Pooled testing at Cebu City’s Carbon Market: Stall of COVID-19 positive vendor will stay open

CEBU, Philippines —  So as not to sacrifice livelihood, the Cebu City government assured that stalls of vendors at the Carbon Market who will test positive for COVID-19 will not be closed down.

The stall can be manned by a substitute attendant and can resume operation after it gets disinfected.

The vendor will be placed at a designated isolation facility and the city assured his or her family will be provided with food packs and hygiene kits during the isolation period.

Pooled testing kicked off at the market yesterday with at least 295 vendors participating. Also serving as a surveillance study, it aims to predict, pre-empt, and prevent the spread of COVID-19.

“The EOC is very aggressive in finding the COVID. We hunt and chase COVID!,” said Councilor Joel Garganera, deputy implementer of the city’s Emergency Operations Center.

Testing will take place in three days, starting yesterday with vendors from Unit 1 of the market. Today, occupants of Units 2 and 3 will undergo testing while occupants of remaining units, mainly those at the barracks and the Freedom Park area, will undergo testing tomorrow, Friday.

The pooled testing was conducted by the Cebu City Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in coordination with the Department of Health and the City Health Department.

The EOC is expecting up to 2,000 vendors to join the pooled testing.

The testing uses a tandem method to better determine surveillance and infection by the coronavirus. The tandem method includes the RDT or rapid diagnostic test or the rapid antibody and the RT-PCR or the real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction test.

After the Carbon Market, the EOC will bring the test to other areas where foot traffic is high.

Mayor Edgardo Labella said earlier he does not mind if numbers will go up after the pooled testing because this will provide the city a chance to isolate and treat those infected.

"Okay ra. Kung makit-an nato nga modaghan, so be it, so that we can isolate them and provide the necessary medical intervention," Labella said.

(That’s fine, if we will see the number of cases go up so that we can isolate them and provide the necessary medical intervention.)

The city has recorded low number of cases this past month. As of the September 29 data from the Department of Health (DOH) - 7, Cebu City has 380 active cases, including only four new ones. — JMO (FREEMAN)