THE PLAN to set up a swab testing area inside the Magsaysay Park will help the city hasten the testing of those exposed to people infected with COVID-19, a top official said.
Dr. Michelle Schlosser, City COVID-19 Task Force spokesperson, said in a report of the City Information Office that “our goal is to have more screening and more testing.”
“We are still working on the new swab site supposedly to be set up at Magsaysay Park including logistics and manpower to be deployed there,” Schlosser said.
She said that realizing the plan will help the city cope with the increasing number of people to be tested as more people were found infected with the virus.
Operating a swab testing site inside Magsaysay Park will allow the city government to limit the operations of the Sta. Ana swabbing center to first generation contacts and those with influenza-like illnesses, while the one in Crocodile Park will only be used for surveillance testing, second and third generation contacts.
Those who want to be swabbed at the Crocodile Park are those with vehicles as this is a “drive-through” system and that the people must not suffer from the heat of the sun, Shchlosser said.
First generation contacts (F1), are those directly exposed to infected individuals, while second generation contacts (F2), are those exposed to F1, while the third generation contacts are those exposed to F2.
She hopes that with the additional swab testing site, more people will be tested. There were times when about 2,000 were tested, she added, although the target was just to test 500.
