Project ARK ramps up testing of private sector workers

MANILA, Philippines — The Project Antibody Rapid Test Kits (ARK) is ramping up its mass testing of workers in private companies as the country eases into the “new normal’’ and a relaxed community quarantine.

“We cannot hide from the virus forever, it will take a while before we have a vaccine. And we have guidelines, the Department of Health (DOH) has guidelines, the Department of Labor and Employment has guidelines on how to go back to work,” Dr. Minguita Padilla of Project ARK, a private sector effort to test private-sector workers, said in a press briefing on Wednesday.

Calls for mass testing

Since March, calls for mass testing have dominated social media, but the government has yet to reach its target capacity of 30,000 tests a day and its goal of more than 70 accredited COVID-19 laboratories.

Padilla said that since the government could not test asymptomatic Filipinos yet, Project ARK is helping out by conducting rapid antibody testing among employees of private companies and by purchasing machines which can run real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests.

“If you use it the right way, you will be able to catch the people who are a threat to society,” she said.

Filipinos, however, should adjust and live “as though the virus is there, as though you are infectious and the person beside you is infected,” Padilla said. “That is the only way.”

So far, Project ARK has carried out 31,281 rapid antibody tests in Manila, Makati City, Quezon City, Pasig City and Antipolo City, of which 1,644 or 5.2 percent tested positive.

Padilla said similar testing woud be held by next week in Muntinlupa City, Taguig City, San Mateo in Rizal province and in Batangas province.

“We have also distributed 500,000 rapid antibody test kits to different companies and barangays which are the recipients of donated test kits from the private sector,” she said.

Project ARK is likewise extending assistance for RT PCR testing to the Central Visayas molecular laboratory for COVID-19, Jose Rodriguez Memorial Medical Hospital, Perpetual Help Las Piñas, Philippine Children’s Medical Center, Quirino Memorial Medical Center, and Zamboanga City Medical Center.

“We’re going to use the modified enhanced community quarantine to test as much as possible. Many companies do not want to reopen, and you cannot blame them since they have not conducted tests. So this is our contribution to slowly bring back to normal our livelihood,” Padilla said.