Sorsogon Gov. Chiz Escudero has lambasted the Department of Health (DOH) for tossing contact tracing and mass testing as part of its COVID-19 response strategy, saying these measures are necessary to isolate and treat people infected with the coronavirus and prevent the spread of the highly transmissible disease.
Escudero described this latest shift in DOH policy as “complete abdication and surrender,” and not a strategy in controlling the dizzying speed of Omicron spread across the country.
“What DOH is doing is not a ‘COVID-19 response strategy’ but a complete abdication and surrender,” said Escudero, who is running for Senate come May election. “It’s a strategy of ‘if you can’t beat them, join them.’”
“This is big mistake and a costly one,” Escudero warned.
The DOH, which is spearheading the government’s overall game plan to defeat COVID second year into the pandemic, said it will focus on community interventions rather than use Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test that is very useful to immediately detect, isolate and quarantine individuals who are positive with the coronavirus. Testing will be done for proper clinical management of high risk patients, community management, isolation and vaccination, it added.
The agency also said that contact tracing will take a back seat.
“Wala na ngang libreng mass testing, babawasan pa ang testing! Kawawa naman po tayo. I cannot fathom, much less understand, the logic behind this policy,” Escudero said, who recently called the attention of the DOH to make COVID testing accessible and affordable, if not free at all, to encourage more people to get tested following the spike in coronavirus infection.
“Again, after trillions of pesos in borrowings, they are still ‘cutting corners,’” he lamented.
