City Hall scraps rapid testing, home quarantine for repats

By Emme Rose Santiagudo

 

The Iloilo City government will no longer tolerate locally stranded individuals (LSIs) who breach quarantine protocols amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Mayor Jerry Treñas announced on Wednesday that LSIs who will arrive in the city will not be allowed to go on home quarantine.

Instead, they will be subjected to strict facility quarantine either in a hotel or in a dedicated isolation facility of the city government.

“In view of the many reports of LSIs violating the 14-day quarantine we have come up with the following decisions with the COVID 19 team. For one, the Iloilo City COVID team will no longer allow LSIs to go on home quarantine- they either go on hotel quarantine or local government facility quarantine for 14 days,” Treñas said in a statement issued on Wednesday in his social media page.

The Iloilo City COVID-19 team has also decided to scrap rapid antibody testing and will instead rely on real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing.

“We will no longer use rapid test, we will only use RT-PCR tests. We are calling on DOH to assure early results for the swabs.  At the moment we have more than 1,000 swab results outstanding. Please be guided accordingly,” he added.

The health department reiterated that rapid antibody testing is not a stand-alone test to diagnose COVID-19.

RT-PCR testing is considered the gold standard to detect SARS-CoV-2 which causes COVID-19.

Treñas made the decision following reports of alleged breach of quarantine protocols in several districts in Iloilo City.

For one, a 22-year-old repatriate from Manila who tested positive for COVID-19 allegedly violated quarantine rules after he attended a party in Brgy. Camalig in Jaro district while waiting for his lab results.

In a radio interview, Punong Barangay Nestro Loma, said the patient attended a party in their barangay despite being under quarantine.

The patient arrived in Iloilo City on June 9 and initially tested negative in the rapid antibody test. On June 21, the swab result of the repatriate was released indicating that he/she tested positive for Covid-19.

Following, the breach of quarantine protocols the Iloilo City Health Office has recommended the lockdown on 20 houses in Zone 5 in Brgy. Camalig, Jaro.

The lockdown was imposed Sunday and will remain in effect until the 100 to 200 residents of the 20 houses are cleared of the virus via RT-PCR test.

Another positive LSI from La Paz district also allegedly went on a drinking spree and attended a sports event instead of staying home.

The Department of Health-Center for Health Development (DOH-CHD) 6 has reminded repatriates especially LSIs to be responsible and follow quarantine protocols like the strict observance of the 14-day quarantine to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in Western Visayas.

Iloilo City has 31 infected repatriates with one active case, 18 recoveries, and one death.