SBMA offers Subic gym for isolation of infected container terminal workers

The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) offered its community isolation facility at the Subic gymnasium for the care and isolation of workers at the Subic container terminal who tested positive of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma said she raised this during a meeting Wednesday, August 19, with officials of the Department of Health (DOH), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Subic Bay International Terminal Corporation (SBITC) to defuse the health crisis at the Subic container port.

As of the latest count, 29 workers of the container terminal were confirmed to be infected with SARS-CoV-2.

Eisma said the major concerns discussed in the meeting included the home quarantine of COVID-19-positive workers who were either asymptomatic or have only mild symptoms, and the tracing of contacts in the community where the workers live.

“In this situation where we have a rising number of COVID-19 cases among workers in one area at the Freeport, it would be best to quarantine the infected workers in a proper isolation facility, rather than send them home to self-quarantine,” Eisma said.

SBMA

“This is a situation that could blow bigger, but by isolating those who tested positive, we can help arrest local transmission. Otherwise, the contagion would spread and may get out of hand. We don’t want that to happen,” she added.

The coronavirus outbreak at the SBITC container terminal was detected last week when 15 cases were initially recorded. A worker from Olongapo City, who had no history of travel to any high-risk area, first manifested symptoms of the disease on July 30.

Over the weekend, the SBMA ordered SBITC to have all its employees tested through reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in order to prevent a total shutdown of operations.

SBITC president Roberto Locsin agreed and gave his assurance that all other personnel in the terminal would undergo RT-PCR test. These included a total of 238 shift workers, port users, security personnel, canteen staff, and even SBMA checkers.

However, as results of the mass testing on Monday began coming in, 14 new cases were confirmed as of Wednesday from about 80% of the total number of tests taken, resulting to a running count of 29.

“If more COVID-19 cases are discovered among SBITC workers, and if local medical facilities can no longer accommodate them, then we offer the Subic gym community isolation facility,” Eisma said.

“We have started preparing the Subic gym as early as April for just this kind of scenario—but always with the prayer that it won’t come to this, and here we are now. It’s sad, but at least there’s a place where the afflicted can go and get medical care without posing risk to their families,” she added.

The Subic gym, which was refurbished last year as venue for the Southeast Asian Games, has been converted by the SBMA into a 32-bed care and isolation facility complete with work and rest quarters for medical care personnel.

The facility became a DOH-certified community isolation unit for COVID-19 cases effective July 29, 2020, under a certificate signed by Dr. Cesar Cassion, director of the DOH Central LuzonCenter for Health Development.

Eisma said the SBITC may use the facility at its own expense, as the DOH has not yet designated any level-2 hospital in the community to manage it as a COVID-19 facility.

Aside from the Subic gym, the SBMA also transformed the six-storey Leciel Hotel building into an additional care and isolation facility with 81 rooms. This, however, was still waiting DOH accreditation. – Rappler.com