Robredo eyes incentives to convince people to get COVID-19 test

April 3 ------ Vice President Leni Robredo on Tuesday said her office will look for ways to convince people to avail of swab testing after some individuals in Malabon refused to get tested during the launch of the Office of Vice President's Swab Cab project. Robredo said they were able to test only 502 residents in five high-risk villages in Malabon, which is lower than their target of 1,500 people. Of the 502, 34 were positive while 12 tested negative but experienced symptoms. "Most of those who refused were worried that they would be required to isolate should their tests turn out positive. Instead, we were only able to test 502," she saidon Facebook.

The vice president noted people are worried that if they test positive, they will be isolated and won't be able to work and earn a living for their family. She warned that if resistance to get tested continues, stopping virus transmission would be difficult. "Since there are many asymptomatic patients and those displaying very mild symptoms, we will not be able to control transmission because many of them would still be going around, possibly infecting other people," Robredo said. "So we need to seriously think how we can incentivize people to convince them to submit themselves for testing," she added.

Robredo, nonetheless, said they will look for ways to address the resistance of people to get tested. She added that they could give financial aid but they have no more resources to do this. "One way is to give cash assistance equivalent to at least the minimum wage for every day that they are not able to work because they are isolated. Yung problema namin sa OVP, wala kaming resources for this kaya kailangan talagang maghanap ng paraan," she said.

The Swab Cab, a project of OVP, Malabon City government, UBE Express and Kaya Natin Movement, is aimed to conduct antigen testing in communities to easily trace and treat COVID-19 patients.

Source: gmanetwork.com