Job Risk Profiling Platform for COVID-19 Assist Companies During Pandemic

The University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) Applied Mathematics research clusters, in partnership with the UP COVID-19 Pandemic Response Team, developed an online platform that will assist the public sector and private organizations in their decision-making related to their operations during this pandemic. 

This platform, according to UP Scientist Dr. Jomar F. Rabanjante, includes a Job Risk Calculator which aims to determine the COVID-19 infection sick based on the nature of the job, and a Workplace Outbreak Microsimulator that will determine the outbreak threshold, basic reproduction number and outbreak projections in a specific workplace setting in a particular period. 

Dr. Rabajante, a professor at the Institute of Mathematical Sciences and Physics, UPLB, discussed this platform in his presentation entitled “COVID-19 Modeling for the Workplace”, during the Living Dangerously Webinar, a UPLB-School of Environmental Science and Management (SESAM) seminar series on pressing environmental challenges, last 02 July 2020.

Dr. Fernando C. Sanchez, Jr., UPLB Chancellor, in his opening remarks, asked Dr. Rabajante to help the academe gain the much needed perspective on COVID-19 pandemic and explain the useful tools that would help in projections in possible future events. 

In his demo of the Job Risk Calculator, a user may select from the available list of jobs, then he or she will input other job information. Afterwards, the open calculator will compute the overall risk score of the job. On the other hand, in the demo of the Workplace Outbreak Microsimulator, the expected number of infected can be determined starting from the first five days until the 30th day. The tool will also present the number of employees that could be allowed to work physically in the office, the outbreak threshold and the computed R0.

“This platform has been used by many companies, it is for free, para sa bayan (for the country)”, said Dr. Rabajante. The full blown version of the platform which was released last mid-May, is used for simulations based on the risks/risk level of every company, location or community.

“The use of personal protective equipment (PPE) is not sustainable, since you need to change every day”, according to Dr. Rabajante. He mentioned also that there is a need for administrative control for behavior of staff, and he urged people wash hands regularly and avoid eating together. 

Based on his data, majority of the cases currently in the country are mild or asymptomatic, and very few are severe and critical. However, Dr. Rabajante cautioned that mild cases can still transmit the virus to the vulnerable class, such as those who have co-morbidities.

This was the second lecture of Dr. Rabajante in the Living Dangerous Series. The first one was during the onset of COVID-19 in the Philippines last January 2020, when he presented mathematical models which could aid scientists in disease spread. With more than 100 Filipino and foreign participants, this webinar was organized by the SESAM Continuing Education and Training (CET) Division, with support from the Information Technology Center (ITC-UPLB).

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