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CEBU CITY, Philippines — The pooled swab testing initiative for vendors in Carbon Public Market will start this Wednesday, September 30.
Cebu City’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and the Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH – 7), in separate press conferences, made this announcement on Monday, September 28.
Dr. Mary Jean Loreche, spokesperson of DOH-7, said the pooled sampling test, a component of the Project Antibody Rapid Test Kit (ARK), would span up to three days.
“The pooled testing in Carbon Public Market will start this Wednesday (September 30), and will continue on October 1 (Thursday) and on October 2 (Friday),” said Loreche.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the United States, pooled swab testing means combining respiratory samples from several people and conducting one polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test on the combined pool of samples to detect SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Loreche said they were aiming to collect five unique swab samples from vendors of Carbon Public Market, and treat them as ‘one singular sample’.
Results of their tests can be produced within 24 hours, she said.
However, if a singular sample would test positive, Loreche said they would have to conduct another round of swab tests to determine the carrier among them.
Carbon Public Market, Cebu City’s largest wet market that has over 4,000 vendors, was chosen as the pilot area for Project ARK’s pooled testing initiative, with experts saying this COVID-19 screening technique is suited for areas where people usually stay.
READ MORE: Cebu City to pilot pool testing among vendors
EOC Czar and Councilor Joel Garganera said the test would be conducted at Carbon’s parking lot and through a scheduling arrangement.
Garganera said vendors belonging to Unit 1 would be expected to be swabbed on the first day, Wednesday (September 30).
They will be followed by those from Units 2 and 3 for Thursday (October 1), and for Friday (October 2) are those from the Barracks, Warwick, Freedom Market, and ambulant vendors.
“We have to be aggressive and proactive in detecting COVID-19 particularly in areas where there’s huge foot traffic,” added Garganera. / dbs