POOR contact tracing procedure or the lack of it was tagged as among the factors that may have contributed to the renewed spike in COVID-19 cases in Pangasinan last week.

Fourth District Board Member Jeremy Agerico Rosario, a doctor by profession, believes the sudden surge of new confirmed cases was due to failure of contact tracers appointed by the DILG to do their work religiously.

Second District Board Member and Majority Floor Leader Nestor Reyes had commented that there were 126 new confirmed cases that were logged on June 27 alone.

Citing the Provincial Health Office (PHO) data, Calasiao and the cities of Urdaneta, San Carlos and Alaminos already registered 47 active COVID-19 while Dagupan City logged 79.

Rosario said the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has not been supervising and providing the proper guidelines to contact tracers even after Sangguniang Panlalawigan passed a resolution earlier that called on DILG to revisit the guidelines.

At the same time, Rosario said the Pangasinan Molecular and Diagnostic Laboratory (PMDL) needs to operate 24/7 to shorten waiting period for results of PCR tests from two or three days to just four to six hours.

The laboratory is still operating with only one shift of medical technologists since the training of another batch will only end this month.

He said the long wait allows suspected carriers to move around and infect others.

Presently, specimens from various LGUs were continued to be submitted for processing at the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center and waiting period is two to three days, he explained.

He added that the increasing number of visitors from Metro Manila to the province is compounding the situation. (Leonardo Micua)

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