EOC says no need for repeat swab test for recovered workers
CEBU CITY, Philippines—The Cebu City Emergency Operations Center (EOC) suggested that employees who recently recovered from COVID-19 should not undergo another round of swab test before they can go back to work.
The EOC issued on Monday, May 3, 2021. a statement calling employers and business establishments not to require negative RT-PCR test results from their workers previously infected with COVID-19.
“The EOC strongly urges all business establishments not to require a negative RT-PCR test as a back to work requirement for persons newly recovered from COVID-19,” EOC head and Councilor Joel Garganera said in the statement.
Garganera cited provisions found in the Revised Omnibus Interim Guidelines on Prevention, Detection, Isolation, Treatment, and Reintegration Strategies for COVID-19, stating that discharge criteria for all types of cases – be it suspected, probable, and confirmed – will no longer entail repeat testing.
Garganera also said the Clinically Recovered Certificate is enough proof that the recovered individual is fit to return to his or her job.
“The Clinically Recovered Certificate issued by the Isolating Facility signed by the Medical Officer-in-Charge must be sufficient to prove that the COVID-19 positive person has already recovered, is already non-infectious, and thus, is fit for reintegration to the community and to the workplace,” explained Garganera.
The EOC, the city government’s dedicated anti-COVID task group, also recommended to firms and management to seek other viable options to prove their previously infected employees can go back to work safely.
This included conducting a physical assessment upon the newly recovered worker by the company doctor, and shouldering the expenses for another RT-PCR test if they still require swab results as conditions to return to work.
“Ug mo require gyud ang employer ug PCR test sila ang mugasto ug dili ang empleado. Dili na nato lisudlisuron atong mga trabahante,” Garganera added in a follow-up message sent to reporters.
(If the employer really requires PCR test, they should be the ones to pay for it, not the employees. We should overburden our workers.)
Read: Cebu City EOC sees better days
/bmjo
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