Tiangco wants more Navotas residents to undergo testing

Navotas City has posted a significantly lower positivity rate for the coronavirus due to aggressive testing, contact tracing, and the isolation of confirmed cases, according to Mayor Toby Tiangco.

While the city was able to test up to 1,000 individuals in a day, Tiangco lamented that many were not taking advantage of this. “We ask them to try and walk in [at the testing center] but they do not avail of the program. We’re hoping that more people would because this is free,” he said. In a Palace briefing on Thursday, Tiangco told reporters that between Aug. 12 and 18, the city posted a 14 percent positivity rate, meaning that for every 100 persons tested for the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19), 14 percent were found positive.

According to him, the change was significant considering that in early July, there was a surge in cases in Navotas, resulting in a 22 percent positivity rate from July 15 to 21. This prompted him to place the entire city on lockdown from July 16 to 29 in an effort to slow down the spread of COVID-19. Although the positivity rate hit 23 percent between July 29 and Aug. 4, it slowly went down from there.

“Testing, contact tracing [and] isolation all have to go hand-in-hand [in the declining positivity rate],” he said in a message to the Inquirer.

Tiangco cited the city’s rigorous contact tracing process, like the immediate identification of the close contacts of a confirmed case who would be required to undergo quarantine until the release of their swab test results. They would also be asked to list the people they came in contact with to further expand the tracing.

Since March 17, the city government has tested a total of 25,004 individuals or 9.36 percent of the city’s 267,000 population. Aside from residents, the city government also offers free swab tests to those who work in Navotas but live elsewhere.