Baguio City COVID-19 Patient Reveals Identity to Help Facilitate Contact Tracing Efforts

A patient who has tested positive for COVID-19 on July 24, 2020, has decided to help the city in hastening contact tracing efforts by giving the local authorities consent to reveal his identity to the public today, July 26, 2020.

In a post released by the Public Information Office of Baguio City today, Gilbert Jocson, a 42-year old taxi driver and a resident of West Modernsite, Aurora Hill, has decided to shed light into his identity and also an account of his whereabouts before contracting the disease as a way of helping save lives and keeping the community safe.

According to Jocson, he felt fever-like symptoms with slight itchiness of the throat on the evening of Tuesday, July 21, 2020, after a whole day of ferrying passengers. Upon feeling the symptoms, he immediately isolated himself to his family and stayed home the following day.

On July 23, 2020, Jocson went to the triage area of Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center, wherein the results came out positive the next day, July 24, 2020.

Jocson calls all of those who may have been in contact with him to visit the nearest health center for a check up. He has also submitted a manifest of the passengers he has ferried for contact tracing purposes.

I am Gilbert Jocson, 42, taxi driver and resident of West Modernsite Aurora Hill. I am a confirmed COVID-19 patient and I am now revealing myself to the public to help in the contact tracing effort of the city government under Mayor Benjie Magalong.

I am aware that by disclosing my details, I could save lives and keep my community safe and that is exactly what I want to do. The virus caught me even if I did my best to be safe from it but I will not let it prevent me from being of service to the city.

In the evening of July 21, after ferrying passengers all day, I felt feverish with a slight itchy throat and thereupon, I distanced myself from my wife and two minor children and stayed home the next day.

I went for a check-up at the BGHMC triage area on July 23 and the result came out positive on July 24.

I am asking all whom I have gotten contact with to please go to the health centers nearest them and undergo check-up.

I have submitted the manifest of passengers I serviced to authorities and I am appealing to passengers whose names are on the logbook to please cooperate once contact tracers get to them.

I am now undergoing treatment and praying for my fast healing.

-Gilbert Jocson via PIO-Baguio

City’s Move to Encourage COVID-19 Patients to Disclose Identity

As a move to strengthen the contact tracing efforts of the city, starting March 2020, Mayor Benjamin Magalong has been appealing to patients who test positive in the City of Baguio to reveal their identities so health authorities can facilitate earlier identification of possible contacts, isolation, testing, disinfection and medical interventions, which can, therefore, help prevent the COVID-19 disease from spreading in the city. In the same post, the office has also shared steps that are undertaken involving the disclosure of confirmed COVID-19 patients’ identity to the public.

Patients are given full freedom on whether they want to disclose their identities and are not forced if they opt not to. Those who agree to reveal their identities are then asked to sign a consent form and are given the full freedom to decide on what kinds of information they want to disclose with respect to their right to data privacy before the disclosure piece is released by the local government through the PIO-Baguio page and mainstream media.

According to PIO-Baguio, as of date, twenty-five patients have responded to the mayor’s call for transparency.

SOURCE: PIO-Baguio