Work-to-house transmission: Officials urge cooperation from workers, firms

Police man a checkpoint at the start of the then ECQ of Cebu City. | CDN file photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Local officials in Cebu City are now urging both workers and firms to strictly comply with minimum health standards as health experts here started noticing a change in the outbreak’s dynamics.

In an official statement issued on Sunday, August 23, Emergency Operations Center (EOC) czar and Councilor Joel Garganera confirmed findings from the City Health Department (CHD) that workplace-to-household transmission is the most prevalent source of recent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in the city.

“Based on the data collected by our contact tracing team, and upon the interpretation of our City Health Department for the past few weeks, the trend as the source of infection has become more apparent,” said Garganera.

“First, since the City of Cebu has lowered its status to general community quarantine (GCQ), workplace to household transmission has become the most prevalent source of infection,” he added.

Garganera also called for cooperation from employees and employers in ensuring that the spread of the virus would be contained, considering that mobility had increased since August 1.

“We would like to encourage not only the workers and employees who are reporting to work to be mindful of safety and health protocols outside and inside their homes, but also encourage work establishments to strictly enforce safety and health protocols within your work premises,” he said.

The councilor’s statement came after CHD, last August 21, recorded 39 new cases of COVID-19.

Fifteen out of the 39, CHD said, happened to be close contacts and immediate family members of previously confirmed patients who reported to their respective workplaces.

This development also prompted the city’s health agency to warn the public of workplace-to-household transmission and advised households with members going out regularly for work to follow health protocols.

These included disinfecting themselves before entering their homes, and practice physical distancing even indoors.

They also told private establishments to ensure that their employees do not share their meals, which they say could be a possible cause of the virus’s spread in the workplace.

READ MORE: Workers told: Be extra vigilant or you may bring home virus

Garganera also said the city’s local task force against the coronavirus is monitoring confirmed COVID-19 cases who happened to be persons under police custody (PUPCs).

After being downgraded from stricter community quarantine statuses, Cebu City was able to keep the number of new COVID-19 cases low at the same time reporting more recoveries.

The city was granted by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) a more relaxed general community quarantine (GCQ) status since August 1.

Data from the Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH – 7) showed that as of August 22, Cebu City had documented a total of 9, 497 confirmed COVID-19 cases.

Its total number of recoveries has already reached 7,619 while mortalities at 623, which meant that health authorities are monitoring 1,255 active cases as of August 22. /dbs