Breakthrough Covid cases impair Subic health operations
SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — Thirteen cases of Covid-19 infection among vaccinated health frontliners of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) have suspended all face-to-face operations at the agency’s two medical units starting Sunday.
In a public advisory issued late Saturday, SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma said the Subic dispensary and a satellite emergency unit at the Subic Bay International Airport (SBIA) will temporarily revert to telemedicine or online consulting due to lack of personnel necessary for normal operations.
However, the agency will continue to provide emergency medical services (EMS) in the Freeport in the next two weeks that the infected personnel undergo mandatory quarantine and treatment, Eisma said.
She added the SBMA had similarly resorted to telemedicine to attend to Subic stakeholders when a community lockdown was ordered last year because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to the SBMA Public Health and Safety Department (PHSD), two of its staff tested positive of Covid-19 last week, followed by one volunteer doctor in the DOH-SBMA vaccination program. The personnel had been fully vaccinated prior to these infections.
PHSD manager Dr. Solomon Jacalne said that because contacttracing indicated multiple exposures among the staff, all PHSD personnel were subjected to reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test from August 24 to 26.
The results showed 10 positive cases at the dispensary and three positives at the SBIA emergency unit. All were asymptomatic and placed on quarantine.
Jacalne added that while all the department personnel had been fully vaccinated, the so-called “breakthrough infection” may still happen because of heavy viral load that health workers are often exposed to.
“It could also be that there was weak immune response to the vaccine they had, or that they were exposed to a stronger virus variant. Remember that Covid-19 vaccines don’t protect you from getting the virus, but it lessens the severity of the effects of the virus,” he also said.
Following the suspension of face-to-face engagement, Eisma also ordered the PHSD to temporarily stop the vaccine rollout project with the Department of Health while the personnel were recuperating. She also tasked the SBMA Fire Department with providing back-up in case of calls for EMS response.
Normal operations at the Dispensary and SBIA unit are expected to resume on September 10 upon completion by health frontliners of the mandatory quarantine.
Meanwhile, Eisma said the repatriation of overseas Filipino workers (OFWS) at the Subic Bay International Airport will continue, as there are enough personnel to cover EMS response in the area.