93 PGH health workers resume work after shortened quarantine –NTF adviser

Almost a hundred fully vaccinated healthcare workers at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) have gone back to work five days after getting infected or exposed to COVID-19, a government adviser said on Sunday.

In a Super Radyo dzBB interview, National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 medical adviser Dr. Ted Herbosa said that the number of medical frontliners in PGH had increased after almost 100 of them contracted the virus last week.

“Luckily, noong ginawa itong shorter quarantine period ay parang nakabalik ang about 90, 93 personnel agad,” said Herbosa, noting however that infections among PGH personnel was still continuous.

(Luckily, when the shorter quarantine was implemented, about 90 to 93 personnel came back immediately.)

“‘Yung dating protocol natin nakapaka-strict, ma-expose ka lang, 10 days ka nang ‘di pupunta sa ospital, ngayon ‘pag wala kang sintomas, pwedeng magtrabaho,” he added.

(Our previous protocol was very strict—when you got exposed, you won’t be allowed in the hospital for 10 days. Now, when you don't have symptoms, you can work again.)

The Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) approved on January 7 the shortened isolation and quarantine periods for fully vaccinated health workers infected with or exposed to COVID-19.

The IATF announced this new isolation protocol following concerns raised by hospitals that they were getting short-staffed amid the rising COVID-19 infections.

Since the start of 2022, at least 1,100 healthcare workers at the PGH have been infected with COVID-19, with most of them experiencing mild symptoms, PGH spokesperson Dr. Jonas del Rosario said.

Herbosa meanwhile reiterated that COVID-19 vaccines do not prevent one from getting the virus but it would reduce the chances of death or getting hospitalized.

He said that the public should then continue wearing quality face masks and avoid crowded areas to help avoid getting the virus.

“Mag-ingat tayo kasi madaming Omicron cases pa rin at puno ang mga ospital. So, ‘pag naospital ka, maghahanap ka rin ng ospital para makapasok kasi medyo napupuno na, naguumpisa nang mapuno ang ating mga ospital,” he added.

(Let us take care because there are still a lot of Omicron cases and the hospitals are full. If you need to get hospitalized, you need to look for available hospitals because they are starting to get full.)

So far, the Department of Health (DOH) has confirmed 43 Omicron cases, but they believe that there is a high chance that this variant is already in communities due to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases.

The DOH on Saturday recorded another record-high 39,004 COVID-19 infections, bringing the country’s caseload to 3,168,379. — DVM, GMA News