Voters who will test positive for Covid-19 on Election Day will no longer be allowed to enter the polling precinct to cast their vote in Angono, Rizal on May 9.
Municipal Administrator Alan Maniaol confirmed in an interview that voters who will test positive for Covid-19 shall immediately be escorted to the isolation facility where he or she will undergo quarantine.
Maniaol told the Manila Bulletin that Barangay Health Workers (BHW) will be deployed to polling places in Angono to check the temperature of the would be voters.
Maniaol said if the voter’s temperature reaches above 37.5 degrees Celsius, he or she shall be escorted to the isolation booth or the health center outside the polling place where an antigen testing will be conducted.
If the person turns out positive for Covid-19, he or she will be sent immediately to the quarantine facility to undergo necessary health protocols and his or her contacts will be traced.
Maniaol said the local government will be implementing the five-step procedures in voting as part of the municipal government’s measures to prevent the elections from becoming a super spreader event for Covid-19.
The swabbing station and the isolation room is placed outside the polling center to ensure that the health of other voters will not compromised. There are eight medical technologists hired by the municipal government purposely for the May 9 election.
The 5 Steps in Voting:
Step 1: Temperature checking and symptoms of Covid-19 outside the polling center
Step 2: Those with above 37.5 degrees temperature shall be brought to the isolation room for the antigen test
Step 3: If positive, based on the guidelines set by the Interagency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) and Republic Act 11332 (Law on Reporting of Communicable Diseases), the individual shall be brought to the Covid-19 isolation facility or his or her residence for the mandated quarantine procedure.
Step 4: If the result is negative, the individual shall be issued a result form signed by the medical technologist. He or she will bring the result form to the Barangay Health Worker at the polling precinct before he or she is allowed to cast his vote inside his assigned polling precinct.
Step 5: Inside the polling precinct is a medical personnel designated by the Comelec who will ensure that the health protocols are in placed.
The local government official, however, clarified that those who will manifest Covid-19 symptoms while inside the polling center will be brought to the isolation facility inside the voting center and allowed to cast the vote inside the isolation booth where a Comelec staff will personally bring the ballot. The voter will then cast his or her vote, give back the ballot to the Comelec staff who in turn will bring the ballot back to the assigned precinct to be fed to the vote counting machine.
If he or she tests positive through the antigen test while he or she is still outside the polling center, the voter will no longer be allowed entry and instead be brought to the quarantine facility, Manioal said.
He added that a breach in health protocols may lead to a surge in Covid-19 cases.