Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte get slammed by netizens after the report of 3 COVID-19 patients sent home due to lack of space in facilities.
A lot of netizens expressed their hate reactions to Belmonte for making reckless decisions.
However, on Sunday, the Quezon City health official clarified that the decision to send home 3 Quezon City residents positive for COVID-19 was made by the various Metro Manila hospitals, not the city government.
It was based on protocols set by the Department of Health under DOH Memorandum 2020-0108, which indicates that “persons under investigation (PUIs) and positive COVID-19 patients who exhibit mild symptoms with no co-morbidities and non-elderly are advised to be sent home for strict self-isolation and close monitoring by local health authorities.”
Belmonte said she was also shocked by the report.
And what disturbed her more is the fact that the 3 belongs to urban poor communities where the virus could spread quickly.
As of now, there’s no extraction to the 3 patients from their homes as they are not missing.
But they are strictly monitored by uniformed personnel and provided with the necessary assistance in order to ensure their isolation.
Fortunately, the 3 patients are showing just very, very mild symptoms.
Under government protocols, persons who have tested positive for COVID-19 should be picked up and confined in a hospital.
“But in this case, because of the lack of quarantine facilities, they were no longer picked up.
Local officials are making sure that they don’t spread the disease,” Belmonte said.
The local government has started implementing the extreme enhanced community quarantine on residences of positive patients who have been sent home.
The 3 patients are reportedly not the only coronavirus-positive patients in Quezon City who have been asked to go home.
They are only among a greater number of patients who were sent home.
Belmonte explained that the 3 are just the ones Quezon City sees as needing added attention as they live in urban poor communities, making their families and neighbors more vulnerable.
Other people including a doctor and other professional were also sent home.
But they live in more spacious homes and could afford to self-isolate while keeping their distance from their families and communities.
As of today, the Philippines has recorded 465 cases of the novel coronavirus, 33 of whom have died, and 18 of have recovered.
