QC opens additional COVID-19 testing centers this week
Published Apr 19, 2020 12:00 am
By Chito Chavez
Quezon City (QC) Mayor Joy Belmonte has announced that additional COVID-19 testing centers will be opened in the city this week to cater to more people suspected to be afflicted with the coronavirus.
Mayor Joy Belmonte (Mayor Joy Belmonte Official Facebook Page / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
“We are opening more testing centers located in different districts so that we can accommodate and identify more residents who might have COVID-19,” Belmonte said.
In a press statement, the Quezon City government said Saturday (April 19) that Districts 4, 5, and 6 will have their own testing centers.
The statement added that the District 5 testing center is located at SB Park Novaliches, and that of District 6 at the University of the Philippines (UP) Asian Institute of Tourism along Commonwealth Avenue.
The first community-based testing center inaugurated last week at the Quezon City Experience (QCX) in Quezon Memorial Circle (QMC) will now cater to District 4 residents.
As for Districts 1, 2, and 3, Belmonte said their locations are still being finalized but will be opened on Tuesday.
These testing centers will be equipped with swab booths and will target the conduct of 50 tests per day, including blood testing and x-ray examination.
Belmonte said the testing centers will have direct coordination with the various barangay health centers with district health officers manning and supervising the booths.
The city government aims to conduct around 1,800 to 2,000 swab tests per week, including those administered by the local government hospitals, namely Quezon City General Hospital, Rosario Maclang Bautista General Hospital, and Novaliches District Hospital, and by the Quezon City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (QCESU) in their contact tracing.
Belmonte explained that the specimens from these facilities will be forwarded to partner hospitals Lung Center of the Philippines and St. Luke’s Medical Center-Quezon City for testing.
She added that the partnership between the Quezon City government and Philippine Red Cross will also start this week with 1,500 tests.
Meanwhile, community-based testing service Project Manager Joseph Juico added that the city has entered into a partnership with the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) to help in the community-based testing.
The QCPD has provided the city with 30 nurses and six medical technicians from the Philippine National Police (PNP) who will help the QCESU headed by Dr. Rolly Cruz in contact tracing.
With the additional manpower, there will be a total of eight teams doing house-to-house confirmatory tests.
“The support of QCPD will help the city health department reach more communities per day, thereby helping identify who should be placed under quarantine,” Juico said.
The nurses and medical technicians are trained to do nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swabbing, and will administer the test for senior citizens based in various barangays.
They will also help in the swab testing in testing centers, and provide support for the city’s Hope quarantine facilities for confirmed, suspected, or probable COVID-19 patients.
For those who want to undergo testing, the city government requested local residents to coordinate with their barangay health officers for initial interview and assessment before they will be scheduled and brought to the testing centers.
Senior citizens will also be prioritized and assessed in their respective homes by the QCESU through coordination with their barangay health office.
However, several residents urged the city government to undertake mass COVID-19 testing of all interested parties without having to go through stringent screening from the barangay health office.
Tricycle driver Jose Juan, who lives in a rented room in Barangay Pinyahan but operates in the Barangay Quirino area in the third district before the lockdown, stressed the need for asymptomatic individuals to be tested.
“Imbis na gumastos ng katakot-takot sa relief goods, dapat gumastos na lang ang city hall sa mga testing centers na kahit sino pwede magpasuri. Sa ngayon pinipili lang nila ang susuriin. Dapat lahat, lalo na sa Metro Manila, ang Quezon City ang pinakamaraming kaso ng COVID-19," he said.
(Instead of spending so much on relief goods, it would be much better for city hall to use funds for testing centers that will cater to those anyone who wishes to be tested. Currently they are selecting the people to be tested. Everyone must be tested, since Quezon City has the most number of COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila.)
When told that the vast land area and huge population of Quezon City explained the high number of COVID-19 cases in the locality, Juan brushed these reasons off, insisting that more testing for the coronavirus should be made available to all regardless of age, sexual orientation, financial status, and religion.
Based on the April 18 statistics from the Department of Health (DOH), Quezon City has 1,042 COVID-19 cases.
Mayor Joy Belmonte (Mayor Joy Belmonte Official Facebook Page / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
“We are opening more testing centers located in different districts so that we can accommodate and identify more residents who might have COVID-19,” Belmonte said.
In a press statement, the Quezon City government said Saturday (April 19) that Districts 4, 5, and 6 will have their own testing centers.
The statement added that the District 5 testing center is located at SB Park Novaliches, and that of District 6 at the University of the Philippines (UP) Asian Institute of Tourism along Commonwealth Avenue.
The first community-based testing center inaugurated last week at the Quezon City Experience (QCX) in Quezon Memorial Circle (QMC) will now cater to District 4 residents.
As for Districts 1, 2, and 3, Belmonte said their locations are still being finalized but will be opened on Tuesday.
These testing centers will be equipped with swab booths and will target the conduct of 50 tests per day, including blood testing and x-ray examination.
Belmonte said the testing centers will have direct coordination with the various barangay health centers with district health officers manning and supervising the booths.
The city government aims to conduct around 1,800 to 2,000 swab tests per week, including those administered by the local government hospitals, namely Quezon City General Hospital, Rosario Maclang Bautista General Hospital, and Novaliches District Hospital, and by the Quezon City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (QCESU) in their contact tracing.
Belmonte explained that the specimens from these facilities will be forwarded to partner hospitals Lung Center of the Philippines and St. Luke’s Medical Center-Quezon City for testing.
She added that the partnership between the Quezon City government and Philippine Red Cross will also start this week with 1,500 tests.
Meanwhile, community-based testing service Project Manager Joseph Juico added that the city has entered into a partnership with the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) to help in the community-based testing.
The QCPD has provided the city with 30 nurses and six medical technicians from the Philippine National Police (PNP) who will help the QCESU headed by Dr. Rolly Cruz in contact tracing.
With the additional manpower, there will be a total of eight teams doing house-to-house confirmatory tests.
“The support of QCPD will help the city health department reach more communities per day, thereby helping identify who should be placed under quarantine,” Juico said.
The nurses and medical technicians are trained to do nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swabbing, and will administer the test for senior citizens based in various barangays.
They will also help in the swab testing in testing centers, and provide support for the city’s Hope quarantine facilities for confirmed, suspected, or probable COVID-19 patients.
For those who want to undergo testing, the city government requested local residents to coordinate with their barangay health officers for initial interview and assessment before they will be scheduled and brought to the testing centers.
Senior citizens will also be prioritized and assessed in their respective homes by the QCESU through coordination with their barangay health office.
However, several residents urged the city government to undertake mass COVID-19 testing of all interested parties without having to go through stringent screening from the barangay health office.
Tricycle driver Jose Juan, who lives in a rented room in Barangay Pinyahan but operates in the Barangay Quirino area in the third district before the lockdown, stressed the need for asymptomatic individuals to be tested.
“Imbis na gumastos ng katakot-takot sa relief goods, dapat gumastos na lang ang city hall sa mga testing centers na kahit sino pwede magpasuri. Sa ngayon pinipili lang nila ang susuriin. Dapat lahat, lalo na sa Metro Manila, ang Quezon City ang pinakamaraming kaso ng COVID-19," he said.
(Instead of spending so much on relief goods, it would be much better for city hall to use funds for testing centers that will cater to those anyone who wishes to be tested. Currently they are selecting the people to be tested. Everyone must be tested, since Quezon City has the most number of COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila.)
When told that the vast land area and huge population of Quezon City explained the high number of COVID-19 cases in the locality, Juan brushed these reasons off, insisting that more testing for the coronavirus should be made available to all regardless of age, sexual orientation, financial status, and religion.
Based on the April 18 statistics from the Department of Health (DOH), Quezon City has 1,042 COVID-19 cases.