September 17, 2020

CEBU’s Project Balik Buhay (PBB) generated positive response when it was presented to government officials, local chief executives and various sectors in Negros Occidental and Bacolod City.

The PBB aims to provide a balance between having businesses reopen and addressing the risks of Covid-19 amid its continuing threat in the city and the province.

PBB experts, composed of Cebuano businessman Edmun Liu, together with infectious diseases expert Brian Lim, M.D. and Department of Health 7 chief pathologist Mary Jean Loreche, M.D. flew to Bacolod City on Sept. 9, 2020 to discuss the PBB.

The three experts shared the concept and methods of PBB and how it will help the economy to “reopen gradually and safely as well as avoid exceeding the healthcare capacity.”

Liu presented the concept of PBB and how it helped the business sector in Cebu.

Health protocol in the workplace was the main topic of Lim while Loreche shared the importance of health protocol in both the public and private sectors.

The PBB presentations of the three experts garnered a good response from the sectors who attended the conference.

After listening to the experts, Negros Occidental 3rd District Rep. Jose Francisco Benitez also felt optimistic that the PBB could help businessmen reopen the economy safely.

In May, the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (Opav), in collaboration with the tri-cities of Cebu, the Department of Health (DOH) 7 and the private sector, launched PBB, starting with the conduct of a prevalence survey in the cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu.

The survey’s goal was to test 10 percent of the total population of all barangays in the three cities to determine the presence and rate of transmission of the Sars-CoV-2 virus in the community.

Following the guidelines of the PBB, Cebu’s business sector was able to open their businesses through a calibrated, scientific and evidence-based transition from enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) to general community quarantine.

The meeting with the PBB experts was conducted upon the request of the Provincial Government of Negros Occidental.

The conference was attended by Secretary Carlito Galvez, chief implementer on the nation’s response to Covid-19, Presidential Assistant Secretary Michael Lloyd Dino, Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson, Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia andd former congressman and currently the provincial consultant on economic affairs, Alfredo Abelardo Benitez.

Opav, together with DOH 7, has been supporting and helping Negros Occidental and Bacolod City to capacitate their molecular laboratories, Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Hospital Laboratory and the Teresita Lopez Jalandoni Provincial Hospital Laboratory.

Both Opav and DOH 7 agreed that improving the contact tracing activities in each local government unit will help a lot in fighting the pandemic.

In September, the Police Regional Office 7, in coordination with Opav, sent two teams to Bacolod City to conduct training for contact tracing. (PR)

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