The members of the Bohol Inter Agency Task Force (B-IATF) medical group and some members of the Bohol Medical Society (BMS) are set to meet later this afternoon, August 10, 2020 to discuss the issue on the so- called “shortened” quarantine period, which has become an issue.
Dr. Jefferson Ong, president of the BMS, revealed the development in a radio interview over the August 10, 2020 episode of “Open Forum” over dyTR, hosted by Ardy Batoy and Dave Albarado.
Ong said that he invited doctors who are members of the BMS’ “Covid working group” to attend the meeting with the B-IATF medical group members.
Moreover, Ong said that the meeting is organized by the provincial government.
The issue stems from the purported approval of the BMS and the Philippine College of Physicians (PCP) members in Bohol to shorten the quarantine period from 14 days to five (5) days as long as the person subjected to quarantine is asymptomatic and able to produce a negative result per polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test taken on the fifth day of quarantine.
On Wednesday, August 5, 2020, B-IATF spokesman Dr. Cesar Tomas Lopez announced in a virtual presser that the BMS, PCP, and other local medical experts agreed to cut the quarantine period as long as certain conditions are met.
However, the BMS and the PCP released a statement refuting Lopez’s declaration saying they did not agree to cut the quarantine period for locally stranded individuals (LSI), overseas Filipino workers (OFW), and authorized person outside residence (APOR), but agreed to cut the quarantine period for the visitors.