Health and wellness is a basic human right that should be inherent to everyone who needs

it. In the past years, the surge of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has threatened the general health
of the public as it also affected several sectors of the economy including education, labor, politics,
clergy, and many more. The community of Brgy. Alagao in Bauan, Batangas is under no exemption.
With a housing population of 2,510, the barangay has poorly tracked the cases in their community (J.
Villena, personal communication, January 27, 2021). One of the reasons for this is the ratio between
the barangay health workers and the population which is 1:502. By all means, contact tracing is of
utmost importance in order to contain the alarming spread of COVID-19. For one thing, this will help
the health authorities track down who were affected, and isolate them to reduce the impact of the
pandemic (MayoClinic, 2020). Correspondingly, they will also be able to give proper medical
intervention for the individuals affected. Given the situation and poor manpower, it is best said that
the community must devise an efficient way to conduct contact tracing without compromising the
wellbeing of their five barangay health workers. To give a grasp of the community’s situation, a total
of 29 people have been infected with COVID-19 in Brgy. Alagao, Bauan, Batangas in November 2021
alone (J. Villena, personal communication, January 27, 2021). People with coronavirus disease
experience mild to moderate symptoms which require medical attention. However, it is also
important to take note that some COVID-19 cases are asymptomatic. Needless to say, the PCR
(Polymerase Chain Reaction) test as well as the antigen test are relatively inaccessible, which means
that the figure might not be as reputable. This further leads to inadequate estimation of the severity
of the disease in the community. Additionaly, the insufficient manpower accentuates the already
deficient response of the community in the pandemic. The responsibility accounted to the five
barangay health workers is unworkable if the traditional house-to-house data collection is to be
conducted. As mentioned above, the authorities must be resourceful in procuring means to make
this possible.

Since the community is well-versed with the use of technology, an initiative such as an online
collaborative health tracker may be used to assist the barangay health workers in improving their
COVID-19 tracking system in the community. The online collaborative health tracker will be accessed
through a QR code or a hyperlink that will lead the citizens to several questions that are all COVID-19
related. These questions include symptoms such as sore throat, body pain, colds, cough, and many
more. With this intention, free and easy to use software such as google forms and google sheets will
be utilized for its materialization. The purpose of the centralized tracking system is to provide a
quick and easy way to record the prognosis of COVID-19 without straining the manpower. A brief
health history will also be incorporated in the data collection in order to help the healthcare workers
give a more appropriate health intervention to their client. The tracker will also include details about
the vaccination roll-out in the light of acquiring herd immunity for the citizens. Moreover, the project
will be sustainable as it will not require scarce resources for its pursuance. This is because it will only
need internet connection to take shape. However, it is important to realize that the health trends
can also be changing. In order to combat this, quarterly evaluation on the use of the online
collaborative tracker as well as its components will be done in order to sustain the use of the
software. On top of that, barangay health workers will immerse themselves in capacity-building for
them to improve their technological literacy. By the same token, assessments will be done to
appraise their improvement. These measures will help sustain and improve the centralized tracking
system.

Certainly, health must be of utmost concern in communities as it directly affects the overall
performance of the society itself. When faced with health threats, it is proper to pin down the root
cause in order to come up with an appropriate solution to address the problem. With the insurgence
of COVID-19, contact tracing is a necessary means to contain the spread of the deadly virus. Indeed,
the innovative online collaborative tracker discussed above will be an efficient way to attend to the
pressing problem as it will aid the barangay health workers track the extent of COVID-19 in Brgy.
Alagao, Bauan, Batangas.

Reference

MayoClinic. (2020, April 24). What is contact tracing and why is it important in the fight against
COVID-19? [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHH8H3aFv6U&t=2s