IT started with a memorandum issued on a virus contagion scare by a university, other schools, and a prominent university here in Cagayan de Oro City have followed suit in reverting their classes online.
Yesterday, Alain Marc Pelaez Golez, president of the Liceo de Cagayan University issued memorandum 06 that instructed its basic education faculty to conduct online classes.
“To avoid contamination by the new Nipah Virus, all basic education classes (Kindergarten to Grade 12) will have their online classes effective tomorrow, Wednesday, until further notice,” the memo reads in part.
Other educational institutions followed suit on the same day the Liceo de Cagayan University issued its memorandum. However, the other schools did not specifically mention the Nipah Virus.
Evelyn L. Mosqueda, principal of Lourdes College’s K-10 program, also issued a memorandum declaring all classes will be conducted online starting today, September 27 until September 29.
“Due to the number of students and personnel who are having fever and cough, the school administration has decided to disinfect the entire campus. Hence, nobody is allowed to enter the school starting 8 am, Wednesday,” the Lourdes College memo reads.
In the same memo, Mosqueda also announced the postponement of its celebration of the Feast of the Holy Angels to October 6.
Like Lourdes College, Corpus Christi School issued its memorandum citing that some schools have reported an increased incidence of viral and bacterial infection among students and teachers.
“The reports have been confirmed by some pediatricians in the city,” Mark Alfonso del Fierro, Corpus Christi School director of operations, wrote on the memo dated September 26.
Del Fierro said that as a precautionary measure to protect its students and teachers from the infection, all classes (preschool, grade school, and high school) will be conducted online starting today to September 29.
The Jesuit-owned Xavier University’s Basic Education also issued its memorandum of reverting its classes online.
In a memorandum dated September 26, XU Vice President for Basic Education Dulce Dawang announced that the university’s basic education community (Grade School, Junior High School, and Senior High School) will be reverting to online learning from September 27 to October 3.
“This shift will also enable us to conduct thorough cleaning and sanitization of our facilities to minimize the risk of further contagion,” Dawang said.
However, the Department of Health-Center for Health Development in Northern Mindanao clarified that although the symptoms experienced by some students and teachers were similar to the signs and symptoms of a Nipah Virus infection, it could not point to the Nipah Virus being a culprit.
“However, currently, the Department of Health’s stand is that there are no cases of Nipah Virus in the country, as there are no laboratory-confirmed cases of the infection,” Ellenieta Gamolo, DOH-10 director IV said in a clarificatory statement issued on September 26.
The Nipah Virus, Gamolo said, was first discovered in 1999 following an outbreak of disease in pigs and people in Malaysia and Singapore. She added that the virus is a zoonotic kind. This means that it spreads between animals and people. People can contract the virus if they come in close contact with an infected animal or its saliva or urine.
Gamolo said that fever, headaches, muscle pain, vomiting, and sore throat initially develop as symptoms in infected people, followed by dizziness, drowsiness, altered consciousness, and neurological signs that indicate acute encephalitis.
“We do encourage preventive measures to ensure no further similar infections are spread, such as hand washing, proper wearing of masks, and other minimum public health standard measures,” Gamolo urged.
Gamolo said the DOH-10 and the City Health Office of Cagayan de Oro are currently coordinating to investigate the contagion’s origin and the kind of virus that infected the students and teachers.
