Poor contact tracing blamed as COVID-19 cases rise
Published May 28, 2020 12:00 am
By Ellson Quismorio
One of the brains behind the proposed ₱1.29-trillion Philippine Economic Stimulus Act (PESA) has assailed the Department of Health’s (DOH) spotty contact-tracing efforts in connection with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
Marikina City 2nd district Rep. Stella Quimbo
(Facebook / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO) Marikina City 2nd District Rep. Stella Quimbo noted during the House Minority Bloc's weekly virtual press conference Wednesday that huge numbers of newly confirmed COVID cases are still coming in daily. “Our level of new cases is still high. Even if the DOH declared that case-doubling time is now longer, the number of new cases haven't been decreasing,” the economist and PESA co-author observed. To illustrate her point better, Quimbo compared the country to Japan, which shares similar statistics with the Philippines in terms of total confirmed cases, individual tested, and deaths linked to the new coronavirus. However, Japan has already “flattened the curve” of COVID-19 infections, whereas the Philippines is still struggling to do so. “As of May 26, we had 350 new cases whereas Japan only had 47,” she said. Before Wednesday was over, the DOH announced a whopping 380 new cases, the highest single-day increase this month. “I think the difference lies with Japan's more dedicated approach to contact-tracing. Almost 50,000 health workers have been deployed there to do contact-tracing,” she said. “In the Philippines, we don't even know the residence of all our COVID-confirmed cases,” the Marikina lawmaker pointed out. Citing a graph she prepared, Quimbo said an average of 11 percent from the new cases being recorded daily are categorized under “city unknown,” meaning they are practically untraceable. This is quite an unsettling data given the highly contagious nature of the disease. “So how can we trace, trace, trace; how can we check on the condition of neighbors, the relatives of confirmed cases if the DOH itself doesn't know where they are?” she asked. There were 3,875 new cases listed from May 11 to May 26, or an average rate of 242.18 new cases daily. The accepted incubation period of the virus is roughly two weeks or 14 days. Quimbo stressed that PESA would only become effective as an economic recovery program if it gets policy support from the DOH. “Even after reopening the economy, people would still be fearful about going back to work or shopping at the mall due to possible infection from asymptomatics. Mass testing and dedicated contacttracing will assure people that those with COVID are kept in hospitals, their homes, or at quarantine facilities,” she said.
Marikina City 2nd district Rep. Stella Quimbo(Facebook / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO) Marikina City 2nd District Rep. Stella Quimbo noted during the House Minority Bloc's weekly virtual press conference Wednesday that huge numbers of newly confirmed COVID cases are still coming in daily. “Our level of new cases is still high. Even if the DOH declared that case-doubling time is now longer, the number of new cases haven't been decreasing,” the economist and PESA co-author observed. To illustrate her point better, Quimbo compared the country to Japan, which shares similar statistics with the Philippines in terms of total confirmed cases, individual tested, and deaths linked to the new coronavirus. However, Japan has already “flattened the curve” of COVID-19 infections, whereas the Philippines is still struggling to do so. “As of May 26, we had 350 new cases whereas Japan only had 47,” she said. Before Wednesday was over, the DOH announced a whopping 380 new cases, the highest single-day increase this month. “I think the difference lies with Japan's more dedicated approach to contact-tracing. Almost 50,000 health workers have been deployed there to do contact-tracing,” she said. “In the Philippines, we don't even know the residence of all our COVID-confirmed cases,” the Marikina lawmaker pointed out. Citing a graph she prepared, Quimbo said an average of 11 percent from the new cases being recorded daily are categorized under “city unknown,” meaning they are practically untraceable. This is quite an unsettling data given the highly contagious nature of the disease. “So how can we trace, trace, trace; how can we check on the condition of neighbors, the relatives of confirmed cases if the DOH itself doesn't know where they are?” she asked. There were 3,875 new cases listed from May 11 to May 26, or an average rate of 242.18 new cases daily. The accepted incubation period of the virus is roughly two weeks or 14 days. Quimbo stressed that PESA would only become effective as an economic recovery program if it gets policy support from the DOH. “Even after reopening the economy, people would still be fearful about going back to work or shopping at the mall due to possible infection from asymptomatics. Mass testing and dedicated contacttracing will assure people that those with COVID are kept in hospitals, their homes, or at quarantine facilities,” she said.