This Week in Bacolod (August 29 to September 4, 2021)

To continue the service of Bacolod City’s 105 contact tracers, the DILG has ordered to keep them until December this year to intensify the contact tracing program. These contact tracers have worked with the COVID-19 response teams in this city. [1]

Bacolod City is under general community quarantine (GCQ) with heightened restrictions until August 31. The national government will announce the new lockdown status in the city for September before the month ends.

The basic requirements when returning to Negros are a negative RT-PCR result and an S-PaSS for safety protocol upon arrival at the airport.

Recently in Bacolod-Silay Airport, a Negrense traveler from Manila has been under investigation after submitting a suspected fake negative RT-PCR result and S-PaSS. [2] If proven guilty, the Provincial Legal Officer (PLO) Alberto Nellas said they would file charges against the 19-year-old suspect, a resident of Cadiz City. He also mentioned that they would run after the health protocol violators. Submitting fake negative RT-PCR test results is a serious offense that endangers the life of others. It may also lead to violations under Republic Act 11332. Those found guilty of presenting fake RT-PCR results will be charged up to P50,000, or imprisonment of one to six months, the Philippine National Police.

Bacolod City government successfully launched their second "VAX-i" bus in partnership with Vallacar Transit, Inc. on August 19, 2021, at the Bacolod Government Center, graced by Mayor Evelio Leonardia along with other city officials. [3]

According to Leonardia, the city government hopes to reach as many vaccine recipients as possible. He pointed out that with the second VAX-i bus in operation, the target is to hasten the efforts to achieve herd immunity. He said that the doctors, nurses, and frontliners who have helped introduce innovations and establish many "firsts" in the vaccination drive, deserve a commendation. He mentioned that these innovations are now being replicated by other local government units in the country.

Bacolod City Councilor Cindy Rojas stated that Vallacar Transit Inc’s President Leo Rey Yanson and Matriarch Olivia Yanson offered one of its buses for the mobile vaccination drive project of Bacolod City.

The first VAX-i mobile vaccination drive was launched last August 13 at the Bacolod City Government Center.

Visit Yoorekka Consumer Magazine for more travel and COVID-19 updates and guidelines in Bacolod and Negros!