Basak San Nicolas residents refuse rapid testing, only 83 show up

Only 83 out of 870 target individuals were tested in Barangay Basak-San Nicolas in Cebu City for the first day of the city’s rapid testing campaign. | Photo Courtesy of Barangay Basak San Nicolas

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The residents of Basak-San Nicolas in Cebu City were properly informed that rapid testing would be conducted in the barangay. The residents however simply refused to be tested.

This was the assessment of Basak-San Nicolas Barangay Captain Norman Navarro in a phone interview with CDN Digital after the testing ended on May 6, 2020.

He said that they were furnished with the randomly picked list, they went to look for these individuals, and yet many of them still refused to take the test.

Out of the 870 targeted test subjects, only 83 appeared for the testing, and some of these were volunteers.

Navarro is worried that the lack of participation from the residents may affect the data gathered by the city. He said he may request a retest to be done if necessary.

The village chief said he expected a bit more of cooperation from his residents because they were informed well, but the schedules were moved and may have caused the confusion on the residents.

“Bisan ako nagtuo nga May 8 diay mi. Naglibog ang mga tawo sa schedule, nahitabo, wala nalang nanganhi. (Even I thought our schedule was May 8. The people were confused with the scheduled and decided not to go anymore),” said Navarro.

Still, Navarro appreciates the effort of the City Health for conducting the tests and hopes the data they gathered could help the city’s fight against COVID-19. /rcg