DOH Advocates Policy Shift in Contact Tracing Efforts – Manila Bulletin

The Department of Health (DOH) defended the policy change on contact tracing, saying the strategy is now “impractical” and that efforts should focus more on “high impact” activities such as vaccination.

“When there is widespread community transmission and it is sustained, contact tracing is impractical,” DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III said in a Thursday, Jan. 13, TV interview.

Duque made the statement after DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire on Wednesday, Jan. 13, said that at this point “where we already have community transmission, contact tracing is not recommended as an intervention. priority”.

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“You’ll be wasting a lot of resources doing contact tracing when you know cases are already increasing, accelerating, and more and more communities are infected,” Duque explained.

The health chief said it is “more practical” to give contact tracers other duties which can help mitigate the spread of infection.

“The best and most convenient thing to do is to use the contact tracer for other high-impact activities,” Duque said.

“They will be much better placed for more impactful activities like monitoring people or families who are isolated at home or in quarantine. They can help monitor the symptoms of these isolated or quarantined people,” he said.

“And also to increase human resources in vaccination centers and also to help with the information and education campaign for better compliance with minimum health standards,” he added.

Duque also stressed that the government will prioritize testing for medical workers (A1), the elderly (A2) and people with comorbidities (A3).

“Because of the limited testing and also because some of our lab technicians are either in isolation or quarantine, so there is reduced production or capacity for testing due to those circumstances,” he said.

“Therefore, the policy change is to prioritize testing of groups A1, A2 and A3 within the priority framework,” he added.

Duque also stressed the importance of vaccinations and following health protocols.

“I also want to take this opportunity to emphasize for the general public, once symptoms are present they should isolate…huwag ka na mag hintay na mag-test pa. If you are symptomatic, you isolate yourself. If you are exposed to someone who tests positive, you also isolate yourself,” he said.