The attention of numerous business establishments in Bacolod City, including a private hospital and several banks, have been called for failure to use the Bacolod Contact Tracing (BaCTrac) system, City Administrator Em Ang, Emergency Operations Center (EOC)Task Force executive director, said today, February 12.
Ang said the violations were discovered after the establishments were found to have little to no BaCTrac login activity.
The BaCTrac is a web and mobile-based app of the Bacolod City government for the EOC’s swift and efficient contact tracing of persons suspected to have come in contact with COVID-19 positive patients to prevent the spread of the virus, she said.
Ang said the EOC called the attention of the private hospital after it was discovered that despite its being a major health facility, it only had 19 BacTrac logins in a day.
The hospital officials said they had their own contact tracing app so we had to explain to them that the EOC has no access to it that is why they have to use the BaCTrac system, she added.
“The hospital has since complied, it now has BaCTrac login activity,” Ang said.
Ang said having their own contact tracing app was also the excuse used by some Business Process Outsourcing firms in Bacolod City, but after their attentions were called they have been using the BacTrac system.
The EOC is monitoring BacTrac compliance, especially in establishments where large numbers of people congregate, like utility firms, banks, hospitals and BPOs, she said.
She said Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia is coming out with an advisory for all establishments in the city to comply with the BacTrac requirement.
Meanwhile, Ang said Bacolod City has submitted its COVID-19 vaccination plan to the Department of Health and hopes for its approval next week.
The plan is a DOH requirement before a local government unit can be given vaccine allocations from the national government, she said.
They are also fast tracking the registration of frontliners for vaccination, and conducting a massive information campaign on the importance of the vaccines in the fight against COVID-19, she said
The city government is also preparing cold rooms for the COVID-19 vaccines and training the vaccination workforce, she added.*