Quezon City Representative Alfred Vargas on Saturday, April 10, lauded the conversion of some schools in Metro Manila into temporary isolation centers to help address the surge of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in the region.

The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) recently announced that isolation wards would be established at campuses of the Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University (DLSU), and University of the Philippines (UP) for asymptomatic and mild cases to stop the spread of COVID-19 in households.

“I am proud that my two alma maters, the Ateneo and UP, have not hesitated in offering their facilities to help their fellow Filipinos,” Vargas said.

The chairman of the House committee on social services stressed the need for more facilities, as he recounted the difficulties encountered by his constituents in getting admitted in hospitals.

“Totoo pong marami na sa mga hospital natin ang full capacity. In fact, for the past two weeks inaabot na tayo ng hanggang 3 a.m. para makipag-ugnayan sa iba’t ibang hospitals para sa mga taga-District 5 na positive patients (It is true that many hospitals are in full capacity. It took us until three in the morning keeping in touch with different hospitals for the admission of my constituents in district who are COVID-19 positive),’’ he said.

“In fairness sa mga (to the) hospital directors at (and) administrators, they really are trying their best to accommodate everyone. Pero kulang na kulang na po talaga ang espasyo (But they really lack space) and we need to take urgent steps to address this,” he lamented.

Vargas urged other schools to also follow suit as he stressed the need for more facilities that could accommodate new COVID-19 cases.

“It would help a lot in our efforts to curb the spread if at least one campus per local government unit is converted into an isolation center,” he said.

Besides schools, Vargas also suggested seeking the help of the hotel industry.