By Nathan Angelo Cruz | Web Manager
Edan Sam Pancho | News Writer
Vol. XCI No. 17
Feb. 21, 2020
As a precautionary measure against the recent worldwide novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, Silliman University (SU) has implemented a Triage system per Advisory No. 5 released last Feb. 9.
Since Feb. 10, medical teams have been conducting thermal scanning and screening procedure to pedestrians entering the following gates: Cafeteria or Admin, Elementary Main Gate, Villareal Hall, High School Main Gate, Langheim, Agriculture or Institute of Environmental and Marine Sciences, Laguna, Angelo King, and Gate 7.
When cleared, one is given a sticker with a checkmark on their ID; otherwise, another sticker is given which marks one as a patient for monitoring.
According to the advisory, the stickers will last until the Sunday of this week and must be renewed for the following Monday after another screening.
Additionally, SU released the Advisory No. 6 last Feb. 12 which stated that the university will continue its implementation of the Triage system at the aforementioned gates and urges everyone to undergo the screening over the weekend to avoid crowding in the following week.
“We just want to ensure and protect the health of everyone in the campus especially on recent health concerns—particularly the new coronavirus. There have been a number of reports from different news outlets about the virus spreading from China to other parts of the world including the Philippines and particularly in Dumaguete,” said Atty. Joshua Ablong, Human Resource Development Manager.
According to him, it began with the Health and Safety Committee of the university which, upon initially hearing reports of the virus, recommended certain preventive measures against it like cleaning hands with soap and water in a memo on SU’s Facebook page and website last Jan. 23.
“It started with the Health and Safety Committee being convened and submitting its recommendations to the administration, and subsequently it resulted in a number of measures that were adapted … the basic preventive measures as prescribed by [the World Health Organization] and [the Department of Health], and other measures such as prohibiting tours in campus and screening those who come in, looking into their travel history, requiring a list of visitors prior to their arrival in the campus,” he added.
Following this, the SU Crisis Management Team on the 2019-nCoV Acute Respiratory Disease (COVID-19) was created. Led by Dr. Walden Ursos, its members comprise of the university’s administrators and staff.
The medical personnel conducting the screening, according to Atty. Ablong is a composite of the university’s doctors and nurses, as well as outsourced nursing aides from agencies and freelancers.
As of press time, the novel coronavirus—originating from the city of Wuhan in China—has killed more than 1,100 people and infected over 45,000 worldwide according to CNN.
Photo from su.edu.ph
