SOME 1,526 local residents in the province were swabbed during the four-day aggressive community mass testing conducted by the National Task Force of the Inter-Agency Task Force in the Management of Infectious Disease (IATF), in partnership with the Pangasinan provincial government from October 19 to 22.

Pangasinan was one of the pilot areas in the country chosen for aggressive mass testing by the National Task Force. The others were La Union and the National Capital Region.

Held at the Narciso Ramos Sports and Civic Center and in different rural health units, the operation was led by the Department of Health (DOH) and the Provincial Health Office (PHO).

Marivic Esmalla, a member of the Aggressive Community Testing Team, said the activity sought to enable the provincial government to determine individuals who are COVID-19 positive in order to minimize their exposure to others.

Priority cases in the four-day free swab testing were persons who had exposure to COVID-19 patients.

Of the 1,526 individuals swabbed of their specimens, 436 were tested by DOH and another 1,090 by the PHO.

Provincial Information Officer Butch Velasco told the PUNCH that those swabbed were isolated till they received the result of their real time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test in two to three days.

Those who tested positive were quarantined in isolation facilities for 14 days and will be swabbed again. If they test negative, they will be considered clinically recovered. (Leonardo Micua)

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