Get testing ahead

In the early stages of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), while it was still escalating into a full blown pandemic early this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) advised all countries to conduct “test, test, test” to their people to stop the further spread of the deadly flu-like infection. After being ignored by many governments of COVID-infected countries that are against lockdowns, the WHO now cautions against abruptly lifting them, lest face a second and even third wave of the virus resurgence.

In response, the Philippine government embarked on its own version on the advisory of the WHO to “test, test, test,” or T3’s for short.

The Philippines adopted its own T3’s which stood for “test, trace, and treat,” supposedly in that order but actually has been doing it in reverse.

To carry out the government’s T3’s, President Duterte specifically created the National Task Force (NTF) against COVID-19 Response and designated Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Secretary Carlito Galvez, Jr. as its chief implementer. In a memorandum signed by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea on March 24, Galvez is tasked “to protect and promote the safety and welfare of the public at all times, and ensure the efficient and expeditious distribution of government assistance to the public.”

This was issued a few days after President Duterte placed the entire Luzon under enhanced community quarantine  (ECQ) to restrict the movement of people and goods to avoid further spread of the COVID-19 contagion. Before the month-long quarantine was supposed to end on April 14, the President extended the ECQ for another two weeks ending this May 15.

This was upon the recommendation of the reactivated Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging and Infectious Disease (IATF-EID) following the first cases of local transmission of COVID-19 infection in our country in early March. The IATF is chaired by the Department of Health (DOH) Secretary, Dr. Francisco Duque III.

A few weeks later, the Chief Executive amended the organizational structure of the IATF as COVID-19 infection cases in the country started rising exponentially. The President designated the IATF as the policy-making body while the NTF serves as the “operational command” of the government’s anti-COVID measures.

After the IATF meeting at Malacañang last Friday, presidential spokesman Harry Roque announced the President further amended the IATF to include the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) as members.

Even before its inclusion to the IATF, DPWH Secretary Mark Villar has stepped up building makeshift hospitals and quarantine facilities for COVID-19 patients using several “re-purposed” state-owned building facilities as well as those temporarily lent by the biggest companies in the Philippines.

A week earlier, President Duterte designated Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) president and chief executive officer Vivencio “Vince” Dizon as deputy chief implementer of Galvez at the NTF in another Medialdea-issued memorandum. Concurrently serving as presidential adviser for flagship projects, Dizon presumably impressed Malacañang in putting up the infrastructure and other facilities in time for the country’s hosting of the 2019 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.

Incidentally, the “Bayanihan To Heal As One Act” approved into law by President Duterte – granting him standby powers such as to realign the Congress-approved 2020 budget in funding the government’s anti-COVID measures – was obviously a take-off from the “Win As One” theme of the 2019 SEA Games.

And just last week, Roque announced Dizon is now called the “T3’s czar.” This is a glorified term for the latest designation of Dizon as Chief Coordinator of the government’s T3’s program that was tasked “to ramp up” the country’s testing capacity. “The President and the IATF have full trust in Vince Dizon to become the T3’s czar,” Roque said during a virtual press conference last Monday.

Dizon presented to the media the just completed “mega” swabbing center at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City last Friday. This is the fourth “mega” swabbing center put up under the joint government-private sector initiatives. The three other swabbing centers are located at the Palacio de Maynila, the Enderun Tent in Taguig City, and the Philippine Sports Stadium in Philippine Arena in Bulacan.

Set up at these “mega” centers are “swabbing” booths where swab samples will be collected initially from thousands of returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). After which all these sample swabs will be taken to the laboratory facilities that conduct real time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing regarded by the WHO as the “gold standard” for COVID-19 testing. The Philippine National Red Cross in Mandaluyong City and the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Muntinlupa City and 22 other DOH-accredited laboratories in the country have the RT-PCR testing equipment.

These swabbing centers are intended to cushion these hospitals from being overwhelmed by the initial 25,000 OFWs returning from COVID-infected countries. But will not these just add another layer instead of speeding up the process?

The DOH earlier announced they could do 8,000 COVID testing by the third week of April. As of May 7, DOH could only do as many as 5,661 tests due to scaled down RITM testing after 45 of its staff got infected too by the virus. By Dizon’s estimates, the four “mega” facilities could do a total of 30,000 swabbing per day by the end of May.

Now going into the second month of the Luzon-wide, the ECQ has given enough time for the government to upgrade the capability of hospitals and quarantine facilities to treat and isolate COVID-19 infected patients. Belatedly, T3’s testing is finally catching up to be ahead of tracing and treating.

It behooves upon the IATF to speed up ways to immediately isolate and treat COVID-infected patients, especially once people come out from the ECQ to start the so-called “new normal” in the country.