PNP to aid in contact tracing

A NEW strategy will be tested in the city.

Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong is merging the police power with medical experts to assure contact tracing will be accurate as the city races against time to contain spread of Covid 19 pandemic.

Magalong said health workers in the contact tracer’s team will now be assisted by personnel from the Philippine National Police in interviewing Covid – 19 cases.

“They [the medical team] are doing a great job but we found out there are gaps and we are in the process of closing these gaps, one solution is for each team of contact tracers will be assisted by evaluators from the PNP,” Magalong said.

The chief executive said the PNP has extensive training on interviewing something that the medical team can use to avoid bypassing crucial information.

Magalong added there is a lot of information being bypassed by the present team because there is a difference in the perspectives of medical practitioners and police personnel.

“Iba ang perspective ng medical practitioner and perspective ng investigator, contact tracing is a trade craft of an investigator, where body language, facial expression and asking the right questions come into play,” Magalong explained.

The mayor said a system is now being crafted for a real time application to make contact tracing results faster to process, giving the medical team all the right information at one glance.

“The system will give you in one sheet of paper, the relationship of one positive case with all secondary contacts, at makuha mo agad ang attributes like profession, age, para mas madali. Every case has its own link diagram,” added Magalong.

Magalong said a possible shift to the PNP system will be made when he acquires permission to use the police software in a bid make contact tracing easier in the city.