Dr. Michelle Schlosser, spokesperson of Davao City Covid-19 task Force, directed F2 and F3 close contacts of confirmed Covid-19 cases to self-monitor while the city is still facing a limited supply of detection kits.
Making matters worse is the ongoing repair of the molecular laboratory extraction machine to run swab specimens at the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC).
“As of the moment, we are still focusing on the F1 or high-risk individuals ug patients with influenza-like illnesses (ILI) kasi sila ang atong ginatan-aw nga high risk of getting the Covid-19 infection. Sila atong unahon ug katong mga F2 and F3 they are encouraged na magself-monitor kasi dili man pud mandatory ang atong quarantine for F2 and F3 but we encouraged them to self-monitor,” Schlosser said via Davao City Disaster Radio (DCDR) on Wednesday.
Schlosser said if F2 and F3 manifest Covid-19-related symptoms, they will be considered as high-risk individuals.
The city government of Davao is temporarily limiting Covid-19 reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) swab testing to close contacts or F1.
Meanwhile, Schlosser said while SPMC molecular laboratory is being repaired, specimens will be processed through the Los Amigos Molecular laboratory which can only run 450 specimens per day, as supposed to 1,500 specimens per day with the combined capacity of the two (2) molecular laboratories.
She also advised the public to expect a slight delay in the turnaround time of swab results due to the repair of the SPMC extraction machine.
In April this year, Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio issued an executive order (EO) for the mandatory swab testing of “all F1, F2, and F3” contacts of Covid-19-infected individuals whose results were confirmed by a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test.
F1 contacts are “first-generation contacts of an RT-PCR-confirmed Covid-19-positive case; F2 contacts the second-generation contacts of an RT-PCR-confirmed Covid-19-positive case (close contacts of F1); F3 contacts are third-generation contacts of an RT-PCR-confirmed Covid-19-positive case (close contacts of F2).
