WITH the decline in COVID-19 and the lowering of risks, the city is planning to transfer triage responsibilities for its registered visitors to the private sector, to the accommodations industry in the city. This was the plan said by Baguio Mayor Benjamin Magalong.
“We are now winding down operations. I am just waiting for the recommendation of our health office and we are giving up the triage system probably by May,” said Mayor Benjamin Magalong on Wednesday.
Currently, the city has already wound down its triage operations, with the central triage facility slowly cutting down on operations and personnel to save on costs.
Under the transfer plan, the city would move all responsibility and cost for triage to private hotels and accommodation establishments.
As part of the move, the city has also transferred management of its Visitor Information and Tourist Assistance (VISITA) system to the business sector through the Baguio Tourism Council (BTC).
Initially, there were only two hotels that were allowed to have their triage. Other accommodations soon set up their own triage areas, allowing in-house guests to no longer proceed to the city’s central triage and instead go straight to their hotels to check their compliance with health requirements.
As the city winds down its anti-COVID-19 initiatives, it has also started moving vaccination sites away from large central facilities to district health centers across the city.
