Bikers and riders line up for a COVID-19 booster shot drive-thru at the Kartilya ng Katipunan in Lawton, Manila on Jan. 8, 2022.

The STAR / Michael Varcas

 

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health updated its protocols on quarantine and isolation periods, shortening the durations for fully vaccinated COVID-19 patients and their close contacts.

 

Under the updated guidelines, the isolation period of probable, asymptomatic and mild cases would be reduced to seven days, provided they are fully vaccinated.

 

The 10-day isolation for those who are partially vaccinated and unvaccinated remains.

 

Full Story: https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2022/01/13/2153651/new-doh-guidelines-shorten-quarantine-isolation-fully-vaccinated

 

-- © Copyright Philstar 2022-01-13

Advice needed

 

I'm hoping someone can give me some advice or help with the following situation. Apologies in advance as it is a long story.

 

- My Filipina wife is in hotel quarantine. She was tested on the 5th day and got her results on the 6th day: she tested positive.

- As per the BOQ rules she notified the hotel and extended her stay for 10 days isolation. She waited to hear from the BOQ and kept checking her BOQ One Health Pass for updates but nobody has contacted her and her One Health Pass profile is not working or being updated.

- Recently the rules changed for fully vaccinated travelers who had tested positive: she can now leave on the 7th day. Day 7 is tomorrow but she still has not received her quarantine certificate of heard anything from the BOQ.

- She has her BOQ One Health Pass QR code, completed before her arrival in the Philippines. As a returning citizen (non-OFW) she had to book and prepay her test, and the only option was testing with the Red Cross. The problem is that the Red Cross has still not communicated her test result to the BOQ. This means that her One Health Pass profile has not been updated; she has no certificate and no tracking on the swab test.

- Since her positive test result, she has been trying for days to contact the BOQ but has not been successful. The hotel has been trying to help her but they are also unable to contact the BOQ. She's tried contacting the Red Cross but no luck with them either. In fact, countless emails and phone calls have really only confirmed the total chaos here.

- She's followed the rules. Can she check out on the 7th day of isolation without a certificate? It's pretty clear she can't obtain a certificate on time and her One Health Pass profile isn't updating. I've advised her to let the hotel know she will be checking out. My fear is that she will get in trouble when the BOQ (or someone, anyone) gets their act together. It is not reasonable for her to continue to stay in a hotel and pay for this mess.

 

As a final comment, the hotel says that this has happened to other guests who tested positive, isolated, heard nothing from the BOQ and simply checked out. So it's happened before, but of course we don't know what happened to those people or if they suffered any consequences.

 

Any advice would be appreciated.