MANKAYAN, Benguet – The municipal government, through the municipal health board, urged concerned sectors in the municipality to continue to be vigilant in the implementation of the health protocols under the modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) to abate the possible spread of the dreaded Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) that could compromise the town’s limited health care facilities.
Mayor Frenzel A. Ayong presided over the recent meeting of the municipal health board to inform the representatives of the various sectors the importance of sustaining the gains of the municipality in the earlier enforcement of community quarantine guidelines that kept the number of COVID cases at a minimum level and to prevent the spike in cases which should not happen in the first place of people adhere to the prescribed health protocols.
He claimed that barangay health workers and school nurses had been reminded of their key role in cascading to the grassroots level the needed information on how to cope with the prevailing difficult situation so that residents will avoid contracting the deadly virus that could significantly affect their health condition and subsequently compromise the town’s limited health care facilities.
“We do not want that the problems encountered by other areas when there was a surge in COVID cases will be experienced in the municipality that is why people should remain vigilant and for them not to put their guards down because the threat of acquiring the virus remains a great probability, especially to those who do not adhere to the prevailing basic health protocols,” Mayor Ayong stressed.
The local chief executive also reminded the management of the Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company (LCMC) to ensure the compliance of their returning workers to the prescribed 14-day quarantine or for them to present negative swab test results before being allowed to report for work.
Earlier, the municipal government adopted a policy requiring people from high risk areas to present negative test results to the border checkpoints before being allowed to enter the municipality.
The municipal mayor called on the residents of the different barangays and the people wanting to enter the municipality for various purposes to understand the reason for the strict implementation of the prevailing community quarantine guidelines because their primordial concern is for the health and safety of the people living in the different communities.
Ayong also appealed to the residents to immediately report to their barangay officials people who are able to enter the town’s area of jurisdiction without undergoing the necessary triaging and the presentation of the appropriate documents so that they will be requested to comply with the existing rules and regulations for the health and safety of everyone which is the main purpose why the government is placing the different parts of the country under different levels of community quarantine.
Among the basic health protocols that must be complied by the residents include the mandatory wearing of face masks, observance of physical distancing and the practice of personal hygiene aside from staying at home when they have nothing to do outside their residences. By HENT