SENATOR Sherwin Gatchalian on Tuesday urged the Department of Education to adhere to science-based criteria or epidemiological measurements such as the number of active Covid19 cases, positivity rates and transmission rates in choosing areas for limited face-to-face classes pilot testing.

“It’s not only the quarantine restrictions, but you have to go much more granular in terms of location and the matrices that should be used in terms of assessing risk. So I would recommend that you go deeper beyond the quarantine level, use scientific and public health-based matrices, and create a ‘heat map’ for a better risk assessment,” Gatchalian said.

“Kumuha rin sana tayo ng mga eksperto o mga doktor sa epidemiology na magbibigay ng rekomendasyon sa DepEd para makita natin kung saan ang mga ligtas na lugar. Doon tayo puwedeng magkaroon ng pilot testing,” he added.

The chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture cited the criteria of the United Nations Children’s Fund in the mapping of pilot areas at the local government unit level.

Based on UNICEF’s recommendations, an area should have less than 10 Covid19 cases per 100,000 population in the past seven days.

It recommended pilot tests in areas with less than five percent positivity rates, while LGUs should have an active contact tracing and surveillance system.

Schools participating in the pilot tests should also have an inventory of water, sanitation and hygiene facilities.

Aside from cleaning and disinfection facilities, the capacity to implement infection prevention and control should also be assessed at the school level.

“The signal that superintendents might get is that as long as you are in an MGCQ area, it’s all right to launch a pilot testing program. However, if you look at an MGCQ status, it has very general restrictions and it doesn’t talk about the public health aspect of epidemiology,” Gatchalian emphasized.

He pointed out that some highly urbanized cities which tend to be dense are under MGCQ while having more than 100 active cases.

The lawmaker warned that without considering factors like the transmission and positivity rates, parents might not have the confidence to allow their children to participate in face-to-face classes.