The city government of Pasay will conduct free rapid antibody tests for nonmedical front-liners like market vendors, tricycle and pedicab drivers and journalists.
“These people—the vendors and drivers, and more especially, the journalists—are very much exposed to the risk of contamination because of the nature of their profession which entails their close interaction with the public. So, we need to protect them and the public that they deal with,” Mayor Emi Calixto-Rubiano said in a statement on Thursday.
Results of the rapid tests will help the city health office identify more COVID-19 cases and determine who would need medical assistance.
According to Geneva-based international nongovernment organization Press Emblem Campaign, “Media workers play an important role in the fight against the new coronavirus, even as they face heightened and grave health risks as they pursue crucial stories on the COVID-19 crisis.”
The group, a special consultant to the United Nations, recorded at least 146 journalists in 31 countries who have died because of coronavirus infection.
Market day scheme
There are about 5,800 tricycles and pedicabs and some hundreds of vendors in Pasay City. The local government allowed tricycles and pedicabs to resume operations in May.
To avoid overcrowding in public markets, the city government has imposed a “market day scheme,” allowing barangays to open markets only three times a week.
Mass testing in Pasay initially covered patients who were symptomatic, health workers, and senior citizens, pregnant women, immunocompromised patients and other vulnerable groups.
Testing was later expanded to include contacts of positive patients, City Hall personnel and other front-liners.