By Uriel C. Quilinguing,
Contributing Editor
A portion of a village was sealed off, contact tracing teams were revived, and closed contacts swabbed–all these to contain coronavirus infections in Ozamiz City.
Mayor Sancho Fernando F. Oaminal disclosed these yesterday when eight more Covid-19 cases were logged in, admitting isolation protocols have been breached.
“We have isolated the five (Covid-19 patients) but the other three gave us problems because they are in barangay-based quarantine rooms,” said Oaminal, suspecting viral transmissions within.
A joint administrative order of the health and local government agencies that was issued in April 15 this year stipulates that community isolation units (CIUs) should have separate rooms and comfort and bathroom for every person, aside from observance of minimum health standards.
The mayor said that one “locally stranded individual” from Barangay Bacolod had gone shopping, after his release from isolation, but had to be contact-traced and swabbed for confirmatory test, because his room-sharer and co-resident caught the virus.
Oaminal said that they are also looking for a week-long room companion of another LSI from Metro Manila, a resident of Barangay Capucao, who was tested positive on day 14 when he was about to be discharged. The former, whose whereabouts remain unknown, was released ahead of the latter.
Joint administrative order 2020-001 also provides that a case information form has to be accomplished during the profiling of the “arrivals” at the holding area for contract tracing and case management purposes.
Because of this, six family members—parents, two siblings, and two kids—of the Capucao resident have to isolated and swabbed for reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests.
Oaminal said he has placed Bonifacio district of Barangay Bacolod under “temporary lockdown” to facilitate contact tracing and active disease surveillance. He has also directed another team to distribute food assistance packs to affected households.
Unlike the three, the other five, categorized also as returning overseas Filipinos (ROF) and LSI, were brought directly to the city government-run SM Lao General Hospital upon their arrival for the 14-day quarantine. It is there where swabbed specimens were taken subsequently yielded positive RT-PCR test results.
The eight new cases brought the city’s confirmed Covid-19 to 20, including two who have already recovered from the disease.#
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