Diocese of Kalookan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David has called on archdioceses and dioceses around the country to set up a “Cofradias de San Roque,” a group of faithful devotees of the popular saint, who is venerated as the patron saint against the plague.

David, acting president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said, the Church can set up a COVID Special Response team with devotees of San Roque helping in the volunteer work particularly in quarantine facilities.

“I wish to call on young people in all dioceses, especially in parishes named after San Roque, to help us revive the Cofradias de San Roque by volunteering to serve as Health Care Volunteers to back up our health care workers, especially in quarantine facilities,” David said during a mass for the feast of San Roque last August 16.

The Church leader said, the volunteers can also assist the local government, their communities and barangays in monitoring suspected COVID cases, including those who are asymptomatic.

“For the moment we are mobilizing volunteers who can do mainly the online monitoring of people who tested positive for the virus because we understand the risk of exposing them to infection if we deploy them to do physical monitoring. The ones we will mobilize for face-to-face monitoring are probably former COVID patients who have recovered already and have natural antibodies to fight a reinfection,” David said.

The bishop said volunteer workers will undergo training and orientation through the help of city and municipal health officers to ensure their personal safety.

“They too can help the attending physician in determining whether or not the patient needs to be brought already to a hospital facility. The idea is to keep as few patients as possible from having to be brought to the hospital so that the hospitals don’t get overwhelmed,” David added.