Where food is, is a place where people will most definitely converge.
City Mayor Benjamin B. Magalong, August 18, said around 5000-grocery and supermarket personnel in Baguio will undergo testing for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) in the coming weeks.
The shift to cashiers, baggers and product promoters comes in the heels of a clustering of cases in a local supermarket, August 12, involving store hands.
The Mayor emphasized that the test shall be shouldered by the employers and should not be deducted from the salary of the employee. This is pursuant to a Department of Labor and Employment Memorandum Circular requiring employers to spend for the testing of their workers.
He said, with the aggressive testing that comes with the steady influx of test kits, the city expects to have a clearer picture of the extent of the medical emergency.
He bared, Baguio is one of the few local government units able to test a great number of people, reason why more cases are unraveled in recent weeks. City data shows, recent cases are mostly local transmissions.
Magalong revealed, city managers have met with grocery and supermarket owners who agreed to sponsor the testing of their respective personnel.
“This time”, he revealed, “we are going to administer an antigen, a new testing technology able to yield accurate results within 15-minutes.”
City Administrator Bonifacio I. De La Peña, for his part, bolstered the Mayor’s statement adding the Department of Trade and Industry mandated the testing of grocery and supermarket personnel.
He warned, “Using a positivity rate of 11-percent, an estimated 600 of those tested may turn up positive for covid-19.”
In preparation for the expected increase, Dela Pena said the city is preparing at least 300 beds at the Teachers Camp and Sto. Niño isolation centers.
Earlier, the mayor ordered targeted “mass testing” of those whose jobs naturally exposes them to indeterminable number of folks.
As a result, the strategy yielded Covid-19 cases involving drivers, guards and bank personnel.
The Mayor since asked the banking institutions to support testing of their own staff.
Meantime, city health experts renewed their appeal for local residents to observe health protocols including proper use of facemasks and shields; proper distancing; regular sanitizing of hands; and, avoiding going out of their homes unnecessarily. **Gaby Keith
