27 Cogon cops catch Covid-19

By Froilan Gallardo, Special Correspondent .

AN entire force of 27 police officers here have contracted Covid-19, prompting officials to temporarily close the precinct for several hours for disinfection, officials said.

City Health Office epidemiologist Dr. Joselito Retuya said 27 members of the police precinct in Cogon public market have tested positive for Covid-19 using the real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (test.

Just as the news of officers getting infected spread like wildfire here, a police official confirmed that doctors have rushed to another police precinct where they suspected another 41 officers were also infected.

Cagayan de Oro Police Office spokesperson Major Ivan Viñas said a team from the City Health Office has taken swab samples from 41 officers belonging to the police precinct in Barangay Puntod.

Viñas said a total of 64 police officers might have been infected.

“The 27 policemen found positive will be quarantined for 14 days while the 41 others are under observation waiting for the test results,” Viñas said

He said all of the infected were asymptomatic.

Viñas said the 27 officers were replaced by a new set of law enforcers from the Cagayan de Oro Police Office Mobile Force.

He said the office of the Cogon precinct was closed for several hours Wednesday for disinfection.

Viñas said the health protocol of the city police force is under review following the infection of so many officers in Cogon, the busiest market in Cagayan de Oro.

At the start of the pandemic in March, Viñas said, plastic acetates were installed in every police precinct in the city as health safeguard.

“We have issued bottles of alcohol, facemasks and face shields to protect our policemen. We are asking why?” Viñas said.

PNP 10 spokesperson Lt. Col. Mardy Hortillosa said they would deploy more officers to augment the 900-strong city police force if necessary.

Hortillosa said the PNP Regional Mobile Group can be deployed to Cagayan de Oro from Iligan city where they have been fielded to replace the infected.