The Department of Health (DOH) bares its reports on the inspection it conducted in Sierra Bullones’ quarantine including an investigation on the surge of Coronavirus disease (Covid) cases in the said town which the Municipal Health Officer (MHO) describes as “alarming”.
The DOH report bared that upon investigation of the DOH team, there were certain violations that could possibly be the reason for the surge of Covid cases in the said town.
DOH’s representative TJ Collyer revealed the agency’s findings during a virtual press conference of the provincial government on Friday, Oct. 30, 2020.
He said that there are two (2) main reasons for the surge of Covid cases in the said town.
He told The Bohol Tribune this: “The first reason the infection spread is: the occupants in the quarantine area are not and were not segregated or cohorted by date of arrival and classification,” Collyer said.
The meaning of cohorting by classification is to group the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) with other OFW, or locally stranded individuals (LSIs) with other LSIs or to put authorized persons outside residence (APORs) with other APORs.
Collyer mentioned the second possible reason for the surge. He said that there is an allegation of the big possibility that there were alcoholic drinks smuggled into the quarantine facility and purportedly there was a drinking spree.
In his report, Collyer did not categorically say that an alcoholic beverage drinking incident happened; but he suggested that there should be an inspection of the items and articles being brought into the facility coming from the outside. He merely referred to the alleged drinking spree as a reported incident.
He insists that there should be a strict liquor ban inside the quarantine facility.
Earlier, Sierra Bullones MHO Airiene Vanessa Dormido confined that a team from the DOH went to Sierra Bullones on Monday, Oct. 26, 2020 to inspect the town’s quarantine facility and to investigate the surge in Covid cases that she describes as “alarming”.
The Bohol Tribune asked Collyer if there would be persons who ought to be penalized for the protocol violations if there would by any. The MHO said that it would be up to the local government unit to pursue cases against persons suspected to have violated any protocol.
TIMELINE OF EVENTS
Collyer said that the infected cases are mostly from sitio Oriental, barangay Poblacion and sitio Libertad in barangay Bugsoc.
It was also reported by Dormido during a radio interview over Newsmakers ug Uban Pa on Wed., Oct. 28, 2020 that at the time of the interview, there were already 26 Covid cases in the town.
For his part, Collyer added that the index case which the town has, is one who is 46 years old, male, OFW from Manila and who exhibited symptoms of the disease.
Collyer continued by saying that the index case was swabbed as he was identified as a close contact of a confirmed polymerase chain reaction (PCR) positive case from Carmen who is also an OFW. The two (2) OFWs were in the same airplane during their flight back to Bohol from Manila.
The index case arrived in the Sierra Bullones municipal quarantine facility on Oct. 3, 2020 and was swabbed on Oct. 12, 2020 after having been identified as a close contact of the confirmed case from Carmen.
On Oct. 14, 2020, the result of the PCR test of the index case turned out to be positive. The following day, 14 close contacts of the index case inside the quarantine facility were subjected to swab tests.
Out of the 14 close contacts who were swabbed, nine (9) individuals from the Sierra Bullones quarantine facility were found to be PCR positive for Covid. The results were released on Oct. 16, 2020. Three (3) out of the nine (9) positive cases are symptomatic.
The next day, 10 close contacts of those persons inside the quarantine facility were subjected to swab tests. Six (6) of those tested are OFWs and four (4) persons are health workers.
Two (2) persons turned out to be PCR positive on Oct. 21, 2020. They are asymptomatic.
The problem is that the two (2) persons who tested positive are OFWs who were already discharged from the quarantine facility with one OFW leaving the facility on Oct. 8, 2020 and the other getting discharged on Oct. 9, 2020.
Collyer said that on Oct. 23, 2020, tweny-one (21) close contacts of the two (2) Covid positive OFWs were subjected to swab tests.
Out of the 21 close contacts who were swabbed, about 13 tested positive for Covid after the results got released on Oct. 25, 2020. Out of the thirteen (13) who tested positive for Covid, five (5) are symptomatic.
MORE OBSERVATIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS
The following observations were expressed after the inspection/investigation was done:
- Collyer said that the medical and security teams monitoring the quarantined people in Sierra Bullones are stationed at a distance from the quarantine facility, which makes it difficult for the former to easily keep track of the movements of the persons inside the facility.
- Likewise, Collyer bared that there was a “lack of regular monitoring” of the movements of the persons inside the facility.
However, in the radio interview conducted by the sister tandem of broadcaster Gloria Araneta and Ardy Araneta-Batoy (The Bohol Tribune’s Managing Editor and main anchor of Newsmakers ug Uban Pa radio program), MHO Dormido insisted that the persons inside the quarantine facility are closely monitored but, later admitted that there are certain times when no personnel from the medical or security team could monitor the facility, especially during the rest periods of the said personnel.
- Collyer added that the DOH recommends that the monitoring team should be stationed nearer the quarantine facility (than where the team is today) so that said members of the team could regularly and easily monitor the occupants in the quarantine facility.
- Moreover, the quarantine house rules are not emphasized properly to the occupants. The DOH suggests that the house rules should be posted on the cubicles or rooms inside the quarantine facility.
- It was further suggested that the occupants should sign an undertaking which would state and stress that a person occupying a space in the quarantine facility understands the house rules.
- The DOH recommends, further, that the Municipal Inter Agency Task Force (M-IATF) should conduct a regular meeting to review the roles of the significant members of the task force. The members of the task force should also review the protocols.
- It was also suggested by the DOH that LGU Sierra Bullones should tap the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) for the latter to provide contact tracers as additional personnel to monitor the occupants of the facility, if the contact tracers are not busy conducting contact tracing activities.
- Another observation that came out was the fact that there is only one (1) communal comfort room per floor, where each floor accommodates 18 persons. The suggestion is to add more comfort rooms and separate shower rooms to accommodate the toilet needs of the facility occupants. There should also be a bathroom usage schedule for each occupant in order to provide a more organized system in the facility
- There is no nurses’ station in each building and it was recommended that nurses’ stations be provided for easy monitoring. It was also suggested to provide the nurses with megaphones to be used for announcements.
- Another suggestion was on barangay isolation units. It was suggested that the barangay isolation units should be activated as the municipal quarantine facility is already too crowded. The barangay isolation centers should be used for those who are Covid suspects, Covid probables and Covid confirmed.
- Furthermore, the report bared that there was no cohorting of individuals by batch of arrival. This observation, then, suggests that persons should be bunched together according to the date of arrival and classification. LSis should be in the company of other LSIs as OFWs should be with other OFWs just as APORs should be with other APORs. In the matter of cohorting, it was suggested that this should be based on the date of arrival.
Collyer stressed that “[The lack] of cohorting was [a] big factor why it [the infection] spread [out] outside the quarantine facility. Because the batch 1 of their OFW was dischaged [but] na sagol ni siya [batch 1] sa batch 2 [of OFW] then nakauli na ang batch 1. It turned out na ang batch 2 is positive [after] the contact tracing activity was done and they identified that those discharged OFW [who belong to batch 1] are part of the close contacts [of the index case],” Collyer said.
- Likewise, disinfectants in the comfort rooms are not available, Collyer said in his report. Disinfection kits should be provided to each occupant of the facility. There is a need to disinfect the comfort room after each use.
- Moreover, Collyer said that the persons inside the facility are not observing social distancing, the wearing of face masks and proper hand washing.
- It was also observed that some occupants of the facility are loitering and, allegedly, are not wearing face masks. Collyer said that they should be confined in their respective cubicles at all times except for toilet time.
MHO REACTION
The MHO relayed her reactions during the radio interview. Dr. Dormido puts the blame for the spread of the infection on the index case and on the lack of hygiene among the occupants.
She denied, however, that there was a drinking spree that happened inside the facility.
She also insisted that all protocols were and are being observed inside the facility.