IN this time of the COVID-19 pandemic, after undergoing the various travails wrought upon us by the virus, the words in the title of this column ring loud and clear and resonates well and deep in our subconscious even as we grapple with the effort to once again somehow cope and manage with the entry of the COVID Delta variant into the country.
As already pointed out bluntly by City Mayor Benjie Magalong, in one of his meetings with the punong barangays, there is simply no way to avoid and prevent the Delta variant from making an incursion into the city, and that it is simply a matter of time, probably in a matter of weeks according to the mayor, when the first case of the Delta variant infection will occur in the city.
And thus the call to prepare and act now as an aggressive and decisive response to effectively manage any surge of COVID-19 cases in the locality, especially one that is brought about by the highly transmissible Delta variant.
In terms of preparation, the city government has already put in place a contingency plan for the COVID-19 Delta variant following a localized four-door strategy.
The first door strategy in the management of the Delta variant is addressing the source of its transmission which is the so-called “point of origin”, meaning managing the variant from outside the city. This is done through the imposition of travel bans and restrictions.
The second door strategy has to do with the management of the variant as it enters the city through the so-called “point of entry” and involves border control regulations such as screening, quarantine, and testing at the point of entry, as well as preventing entry/containing and mitigating cases at the border.
The third door strategy is then implemented once the Delta variant is already inside the city through the so-called “point of care” and applying the Prevent-Detect-Isolate-Treat-Reintegrate (PDITR) process to contain the spread of the virus.
Finally, the fourth door strategy is activated once there is a so-called “epidemic surge” by implementing community quarantines as well as PDITR.
With the anticipation then of the COVId-19 Delta variant making its presence felt probable several weeks from now, the city government already has acted and implemented several measures involving the four doors strategy of the contingency plan.
Some of these are the following: 1) stricter border control (triage, checkpoints, and use of antigen or RT-PCR test) for travellers; 2) inter LGU (BLISTT) Police office collaboration; 3) monitoring of arrivals; 4) strict completion of quarantine/isolation of Returning Overseas Filipinos (ROFs), especially those coming from high risk countries; 5) seek out vulnerable groups – senior citizens and people with comorbidities especially those still hesitant to be vaccinated; 6) mobile vaccination in the barangays to service those bedridden and those unable to visit vaccination sites due to health conditions; 7) fast tracking of the 2nd dose vaccine; 8) creating other vaccination sites and hiring of additional vaccinators; 9) intensifying IEC on vaccination operations among constituents; 10) suspension of activities not strictly complying with the minimum public health standards (MPHS); 11) regular and random inspection of business establishments; 12) monitoring of public places; 13) barangay level monitoring; 14) limitation in mass gathering; 15) aggressive contact tracing (active case finding); 16) emergency hiring of additional contact tracers; 17) targeted testing; 18) strict implementation of facility based isolation and immediate isolation and quarantine of active cases; 19) implementation of granular lockdowns in critical clusters and with low MPHS compliance; 20) strengthening further the Baguio One Hospital Command in its referral and navigation system; 21) conduct of inventory of oxygen tanks and oxygenators to include the private sector; 22) inventory of critical supplies and medicines; 23) procurement and stockpile remdesivir, Toclizumab, Dexamethasone, high flow cannula and PPEs; 24) operation of the procured disinfectant machine; and 25) preparation of a mental health and wellness program for frontliners.
All of these measures are now being implemented by the city government in preparation for and anticipation of the entry of the COVID-19 Delta variant.
We can only hope that other LGUs, particularly those in Metro Manila where it is reported that a surge in COVID-19 cases “in its early stages” has already started in that place, will immediately follow suit and implement and activate their four-door strategy as a contingency against the Delta variant.
