The fight against the COVID-19 pandemic is a battle that can be won through science-based implementations, the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) said.
Of its 4,871 personnel tested in June, only 99 or two percent turned out positive for COVID-19 despite high risks of contracting the virus, according to a paper published by PGH on Wednesday (Aug. 11).
Among its 1,794 frontliners who directly handled COVID-19 patients, only 26 or 1.4 percent tested positive.
The hospital-turned COVID-19 center said what helped to reduce the infection rate among the PGH community were measures "calculated with precision and evaluated objectively."
Stop the use of antibody tests
Rapid Antibody Tests (RATs) didn't prove to be beneficial in PGH's operation because of its inaccurate results. The institution said that the sensitivity of RAT is only 20 percent.
"The level of sensitivity at 20 percent is too low to be of any value. The number of potential missed cases of 80 percent is too dangerously high to even consider RAT as a screening too," the PGH said.
It echoed the call of various medical groups and healthcare professionals to stop the use of rapid tests. "We ask LGUs (local government units) and workplaces not to use RAT to clear workers to work or not to work."
Routine mass testing among healthcare workers not 'feasible'
The PGH said that routine mass testing among their healthcare workers every few weeks is "not sustainable" given the cost and operational and logistical limitations of testing.
However, to reduce the risk of healthcare workers getting infected, the institution recommended "low-threshold targeted testing" to those healthcare workers exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms, those with high-risk exposure, and those who feel they need to be tested.
"Make the testing procedure also an opportunity for counseling and education. Before testing and while waiting for the release of results are timely chance periods to reinforce COVID-19 information among those who are being tested, even if they are HCWs (healthcare workers), whether by handouts or verbal reminders," PGH said.
Importance of fast contact tracing
In its policy paper, the hospital underscored the importance of fast contact tracing: "Contact tracing is very important. It is also time-sensitive and thus every COVID suspects and confirmed case demands that contact tracing should be initiated at once."
PGH said that contact tracing loses its impact if initiated one day, one week, or a month later after the case is identified.
"If we wait for the COVID tests results as many persons usually do, it might already be too late and many persons have been exposed," it added, noting that COVID-19 patients are more infectious from one day before and up to the first three days of start symptoms, thus immediate isolation and needs to be done right away.
"The earlier we start contact tracing, the more alert our systems are, the least infections we will have," it added.
Most valuable resources in the COVID-19 fight
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the entire health system relies heavily on healthcare workers to be at the forefront of caring for COVID-19 patients while also safeguarding the entire population from the virus, according to PGH.
"We have put on the shoulders of HCWs the immense work of not only guarding the frontlines but manning the back-end as well so that more can be saved and fewer will be lost," the institution said.
The state-owned hospital also said healthcare workers' concerns must be heard and taken into consideration in planning out strategies.
"Our HCWs' call for fair compensation, salary adjustment, and unpaid hazard pay are all justified complaints and urgent needs. administration should reassure staff that these are ready in the process of being addressed," it said.
PGH also stressed the importance of on-site access to RT-PCR testing with a 24-hour turnaround time, a workplace university clinic, housing and transport for frontliners, and adequate provision of personal protective equipment (PPE).
"The COVID-19 pandemic is here to stay for a few more months. Let us gather our best practices and continue to learn from each other. We are one with the WHO (World Health Organization) when it states what we need to get through this pandemic are science, solutions, and solidarity," the hospital ended.