MANILA, Philippines — Neighborhood gossips will not be tapped to serve as contact tracers in the government’s effort to contain the spread of the new coronavirus that causes severe respiratory disease COVID-19, the Philippine National Police said on Sunday.
The gossips will just be the authorities’ initial source of information, Police Brig. Gen. Bernard Banac said in a radio interview.
Banac said people who would be hired as contact tracers by Baguio Mayor Benjamin Magalong, the government’s chief tracker, would be those with “real skills” in contact tracing, “cognitive skills” and “capacity for empathy.”
Investigative mindset
In a message to the Inquirer later, Banac quoted Magalong as saying people who would be employed as contact tracers “must possess an investigative mindset and be inquisitive.”
In a separate radio interview on Sunday, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año laughed off reports that the government would hire neighborhood gossips as contact tracers.
A science
“Contact tracing is a science,” Año said. “We have qualifications [for contact tracers]. They should be at least college graduates, preferably with medical or investigative backgrounds, because this is a mix of investigation and epidemiological knowledge or skills.
What the tracers will track down, he said, is the “flow of the virus.”
Contact tracers, he said, should be able to help confirmed COVID-19 patients recall places where they have been and people they have come in contact with. They should move quickly because “if you’re late by one or two hours, it would be difficult to trace [people] who may already be unknowingly spreading the virus.”
Resurgence
Año, however, acknowledged the value of raw information that community residents could provide and that could be put through verification.
The Philippines has been battling a resurgence of the coronavirus nearly four weeks after relaxing quarantine restrictions to reopen the economy.
As of Sunday, the country had 52,406 active cases, with the addition of 2,110 new infections. Total cases, including those who have recovered or died, stood at 80,448.
The Department of Health (DOH) had no explanation for the high number of fresh infections, but earlier said the surge in cases in recent weeks could be the result of increased testing.
Metro Manila had the highest number of new infections, 1,345, followed by Cebu, with 304; Laguna, 109; Negros Occidental, 66; and Rizal, 40.
Of the active cases as of Sunday, the DOH said 89.83 percent were mild, 9.25 percent showed no symptoms, 0.49 percent were severe, and 0.42 percent were critical.
The DOH reported that 382 more patients had recovered, bringing the total number of COVID-19 survivors to 26,110. The death toll, however, rose to 1,932 with the deaths of 39 more patients.
—With a report from Tina G. Santos