Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 20) — Sorsogon Governor and former senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero backed the use of rapid test kits to identify coronavirus patients, saying mass testing would only be possible with the Health department’s approval on the said tests.
Escudero said they use rapid tests on those suspected to have contracted COVID-19 in their province, before sending the patients to Department of Health-approved testing centers for confirmatory PCR-based tests.
He added that the rapid test has not yet produced erroneous results in the times they have used it for Sorsogon residents.
“Rapid test kits ang ginagamit namin. Ito ang ayaw payagan ng DOH na para sakin ay dapat payagan nila. ‘Yun lamang ang tanging paraan para magkaroon ng mass testing,” the governor said in an interview on CNN Philippines.
[Translation: We are using rapid test kits. These are the tests that DOH does not allow, but, in my opinion, should. Allowing rapid tests is the only way we can conduct mass testing.]
Rapid tests give results in under an hour, while PCR-based tests may take over 24 hours.
However, DOH has cautioned against the use of rapid tests, which it says produce quick but possibly inaccurate results.
It warned that this kind of test may miss detecting infections and therefore produce a “false negative”. This, in turn, may pose more risks as patients—who begin to think they are COVID-free—may act complacent and continue to interact with and possibly infect others.
The health department stressed that rapid tests cannot be treated as a stand-alone, and patients will still have to undergo a confirmatory PCR test afterwards.
READ: LIST: Who can be tested using rapid COVID-19 test kits?
Meanwhile, Escudero also expressed disappointment on the health department’s reported refusal to test some of his constituents for COVID-19.
“Meron ata kaming apat o anim na nais mapa-test na hindi pinayagan i-test ng DOH dahil wala raw ito sa protocol, algorithm, o triage nila,” he said.
[Translation: We have about four or six people whom we wanted to be tested for COVID-19. However, we were not allowed by DOH, as these people are apparently not part of its protocol, algorithm, or triage for testing.]
According to the governor, they mandated the said suspected patients to undergo a 14-day quarantine. The provincial government ensured they exhibited no symptoms before being released from the isolation facilities, he said.
To date, Sorsogon continues to be a COVID-free province. Escudero said they currently have some 200 persons under monitoring and four persons under investigation.
He added that should there be a reported confirmed infection in the area, they have already designated certain facilities to house patients.
