COVID-19 testing prioritizes the rich?

• Netizens appeal for fair treatment when it comes to COVID-19 testing.

The Department of Health has previously admitted that testing kits in the country are limited. This means that they needed to set some guidelines on who should be prioritized.

This has been an issue as other citizens are requesting to be tested as they are showing symptoms, but are being rejected.

Reasons include that they did not have any travel history within affected countries.

But recently, netizens are horrified by another thing: asymptomatic politicians and public figures can immediately get tested while other Filipinos needed to wait for their turn. This is after Senate President Tito Sotto, Senators Ping Lacson, Imee Marcos, Grace Poe, Francis Tolentino, Bong Revilla, and Pia Cayetano got tested when they’re all asymptomatic.

A netizen said that points of qualifications for the test may be your wealth and social status. The “rich, powerful, and connected” are allegedly tested first.

“The system is built for the elite and it shows,” she wrote

Qualifications for COVID-19 testing:

1. h̶a̶s̶ ̶s̶y̶m̶p̶t̶o̶m̶s̶ Rich
2. h̶a̶s̶ ̶d̶i̶r̶e̶c̶t̶ ̶e̶x̶p̶o̶s̶u̶r̶e̶ Politician

What is off-limits to most people is readily available to others—namely the rich, powerful & connected. The system is built for the elite and it shows. https://t.co/RUpfgJEwIU

— Tina Boado 🌈 (@inaurner) March 18, 2020

Another Twitter user also narrated his experience as a nurse. A patient requested for their son to be tested but he had to say no as they don’t fit the “criteria” that the Department of Health released.

The patient then questioned the asymptomatic senators but the nurse wasn’t able to answer his question.

https://twitter.com/John_Magkeys/status/1240068995702636544

Other netizens also began questioning the system as there are hundreds of frontliners who are symptomatic but aren’t able to get prioritized for testing.

https://twitter.com/Simply_Clinton/status/1240996514966540289

The government can test relatives of politicians from Covid-19 but they can’t even do the same to the frontliners who are risking their lives, dealing personally and face-to-face with the virus and the suspected and vulnerable who are just advised to go home & self-quarantine. 🤦🏻‍♂️

— Ryan (@rryyyaaaannnn) March 17, 2020

https://twitter.com/STPbasileo/status/1239925114784714758

The DOH has also announced that they see no need to conduct mass testing as of the moment.

https://twitter.com/OrjyDumaoang/status/1240877290130567168

https://twitter.com/MrFrankBaraan/status/1240947234373541895

In a Facebook post by Chronicles of M.D, she shared how difficult their situations are especially those who already acquired the disease in the performance of their duties.

https://www.facebook.com/chroniclesofMD/photos/a.342681235900814/1199479560220973/?type=3&__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARDPx7beWQtHRSTEJcLBovhcflOy1r2Q98YTzigfb1DlOHTWSQZbvQV3SppuLasqTWDhmXbtUI5vw9uOHdUTLuAdCi9x14ZBMIWM6Bz5rRp-wntsgqa-R58o4rVe2amqLmkC9K6BiOE4h-DfcPCGgrvKHQt2YTMgVwCTbivrX1OAzVQF2W9QGTuqKYmx9O3bXfKnd1qkhPFwyxSsrgyJIyEHnGNnwnlAhD6E-mFcWRQTOGTIyqCxC_Q0dbp4H2iFiN8ePjmty_TQJ8dfwtPUjfsK_7Qp0b3mXlVLGOalx2S4Mr3cy3WxpzISjCilArpk6nilcnQa2vjNl_7NuO0T2sIMjw&__tn__=-R

There are currently 307 confirmed cases in the country with 19 deaths.