The Makati City government on Wednesday started the COVID-19 pooled swab testing for public utility vehicle drivers and market vendors who were prioritized by Mayor Abigail Binay because of their vulnerability and exposure to virus.
The local government converted the Makati Coliseum to a “mass testing” center where swab samples will be collected and collated from some 6,000 residents between Sept. 2 and 8.
Earlier this month, the City of Makati was chosen as the pilot testing site for Project Ark’s science-based, pooled swab testing method. Pooled testing will deliver faster COVID-19 test results for large groups of people.
“Today, Makati City is taking the first big step towards better, faster, and more implementable mass testing for COVID-19. I am proudly supporting this program because this is backed by scientific research. The results of this trial will have a big impact on local governments as well as businesses and countless industries in the years to come,” Mayor Binay said.
At least 500 PUV drivers and market vendors from Comavena, Tablanza, Guadalupe Market, and Poblacion Market were scheduled to be swabbed Wednesday.
Their samples will be pooled in batches and tested for COVID-19 as a group.
In the succeeding days, Makati is targeting to have over 1,000 persons swabbed per day.
Under the pooled testing method, swab samples of multiple individuals are tested at the same time.
If the result is positive, all the individuals in the pool will be tested separately. If the swab test comes back negative, there is no need to test everyone in the batch.
BInay chose the PUV drivers and public market vendors as the priority segment because they are the most exposed to other people and possibly the virus.
Later on, she said, the pooled swab testing method could be applied to other sectors.
The city chief executive also welcomed representatives from Project Ark and the Coordinated Operations to Defeat Epidemic (CODE) Team who came to observe the pooled swab testing procedure.
Among them were National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon, Makati City’s designated “Big Brother”, and Iloilo Rep. and Project ARK Private Sector Chief Implementer Janette Garin.
The CODE initiative from the Department of Health demonstrates active case finding strategies to prevent and eliminate clusters of community transmission of the virus.
The team believes that active case finding means systematic screening and clinical evaluation of patients in the community.
“We have a long battle ahead of us. COVID-19 is not going away any time soon. As leaders, we must look forward and think of innovative solutions which can help more people over the long term,” Binay emphasized.
She said the results of the pilot pooled swab testing would be shared with other local government units and the private sector to optimize the availability of COVID-19 test kits and improve how communities handle testing and isolation.
Since the start of the pandemic, Makati has remained consistent in using RT-PCR testing, considered by health experts as the “gold standard”.