By CARRIE T. ASPA | Iba, Zambales

Responding to the governor’s call for preparedness, local government units (LGUs) in the 13 towns of Zambales are setting up local quarantine facilities and border disinfection units to strengthen local capacity to combat the spread of the new coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

Gov. Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. said 15 quarantine facilities in the province have been identified by LGUs and are now being equipped with necessary staff, equipment and supplies to house persons under investigation (PUIs).

“Eleven municipalities have so far each identified one quarantine site for the locality, while two others—the towns of Palauig and Sta. Cruz—have two sites each, so all the LGUs have been accounted for,” Ebdane said on Wednesday.

“On top of these, the provincial government is maintaining two other quarantine sites—the President Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Hospital (PRRMH) here in Iba, and the Bahay Pag-asa in Botolan town,” he added.

PRRMH, under Ebdane’s Monday order, was designated for exclusive use of Covid0-19 cases.

As of Wednesday, April 1, all regular patients have been transferred to the two district hospitals in the province—San Marcelino District Hospital and Candelaria District Hospital. Others, according to the governor, opted to continue treatment at the Kainomayan Community Hospital in Botolan.

“It is important to segregate cases of Covid-19 to prevent possible spread through the sharing of the same facility,” the governor explained.

On Sunday, Ebdane gave all LGU units the order to implement more stringent measures, stressing that preparedness be at the core of the provincial action plan against Covid-19.

“It is very heartening how community leaders and officials eagerly complied,” he said, adding that he has been inspecting proposed quarantine sites since Tuesday.

Among the defense measures now being practiced in Zambales is the disinfection of vehicles going in or out of the province. Ebdane said that some local officials even took this a step further and established their own disinfection stations at the border of their own towns or barangay.

Likewise, a mandatory quarantine is now required for all outsiders who want to enter the province. New arrivals will be quarantined for 14 days at facilities in the border towns of Sta. Cruz and Subic, according to Ebdane.

Exempted from this policy are travelers on vital missions like delivery of food and medical supplies, and others provided under the rules of the Enhanced Community Quarantine declared by President Rodrigo Duterte, he clarified.

Meanwhile, other LGUs have begun doing inventory of their current stock of supplies of food and medicine after the governor ordered record-keeping of necessities as part of emergency response.

A number of private doctors and other medical personnel in the locality have also answered Ebdane’s call for enlistment as health “reservist” in their towns.

“In times like this, cooperation is the most important contribution anyone can make. It would be easier for us to contain, and consequently eradicate the virus if the community acted as one,” the governor said.

As of April 1, the Zambales province has reported three confirmed cases of Covid-19 infection, among them a 90-year old resident of Castillejos town who died on March 27.

But so far, eight persons under investigation (PUIs) in the province have been discharged after testing negative, while six are awaiting results, according to the Zambales Provincial Health Office (PHO).

The PHO also indicated that as of April 1, only 3,831 persons under monitoring (PUMs) remained of the 13,258 that the province had recorded since Day 1 of the Luzon-wide Enhanced Community Quarantine, while 135 of the recorded 262 PUIs have completed the 14-day observation period without any progressing symptom.

“The numbers here are small compared to other areas, but this does not mean we can relax our vigilance,” Ebdane clarified. “Zambales, in fact, has just stepped-up response to the threat,” he added.