Caloocan Young Leaders Initiative led timely discussion  on COVID-Proofing Communities 

 Brickette Gwen Agpaoa 

SATURDAY, September 25, 2021 - Members from Letran Senior High School Fourth Estate joined the Caloocan Young Leaders Initiative’s webinar to tackle COVID-Proofing communities.

The event started with an introduction from Mr. Thomas Da Jose where he discussed what the webinar would be about and thanked the ones responsible for making it happen. Dr. Beverly Ho also talked about the COVID-19 virus and what information the public needs to know about.

After a short introduction from the two, the first speaker, Prof. Jose L. Jimenez from the University of Colorado Boulder was later on introduced. He then discussed more on how COVID-19 virus transmits from one person to another as well as how people are infected and what situations put people at risk of being infected. Prevention of transmission was also included in his discussion about COVID-19.

Another discussion was brought to light by Dr. Aileen Espina right after Prof. Jose L. Jimenez about the updates on the status of every Filipino’s battle against COVID-19. Her discussion included topics such as the reporting of COVID-19 cases, proper lockdowns, data management systems, factors that increase man’s vulnerability against the virus, and many more.

Following the discussion on the status update of the country in terms of the pandemic, Asec. Teresita Cucueco, M.D., continued the discussion with talks about the guidelines on proper ventilation in workplaces and public transportation to further prevent the spread of the virus. Her discussion on proper ventilation consisted of topics such as general ventilation strategies and recommendations, checklist for assessing ventilation and the monitoring of it, as well as the general do’s and don’ts of proper ventilation especially during the pandemic.

With the discussions on proper ventilation, speaker Engr. Joshua Agar also talked about the implementation of face shields in the Philippines. Opening discussions on topics such as the statistics and mechanics of it, studies done about it, the physics behind it, and even simulations on how face shields work.

The event also had speaker John Carlo Borja from Sangguniang  Kabataan Calumpang and Positive Youth Development Network who talked about the youth’s role in fighting the pandemic. Here he discussed how the youth of the Philippines utilizes its role in the pandemic to take action against it. With talks as to what they have done to contribute in the fight against it, through programs and activities such as donation drives, campaigns, initiatives, volunteering, etc.

Lastly, the discussion on what efforts are being done to make the community such as Naga City, who are COVID-free was introduced by speaker Kenneth Isaiah Abante. He discussed topics such as how organizations empower communities to prevent the spread of the virus through procedures by orientations, compliance checks, campaigns, agendas, and advocacies.

Open forum discussion was enabled where participants were allowed to ask their questions to certain speakers of the webinar as they answered said questions. As the webinar came to an end, the speakers were then awarded their certification of appreciation and the last comments and announcements were made by the hosts.