MAYOR Oscar Moreno ordered a community on Dabatian Street, Barangay Carmen, cordoned off as the city government started focused containment efforts after a woman from that neighborhood died and tested positive for Covid-19 on Sunday evening.

City epidemiologist Dr. Teodulfo Joselito Retuya Jr. said initial contact-tracing efforts led health workers to 10 close contacts of the woman, including members of her family.

Contact-tracing work is ongoing. Dr. Retuya said health workers are preparing to bring the 10 to the city’s isolation facilities.

The 34-year-old woman was already in serious condition when she was brought to the Northern Mindanao Medical Center (NMMC) on Sunday evening.

Dr. Bernard Julius Rocha, NMMC medical specialist II, said she was brought to the hospital at 10:20 pm because of stomachache, fever, and shortness of breathing. She died at 10:29 pm or nine minutes later after her specimen was taken for a GeneXpert machine test. The result showed she was infected with Covid-19.

The woman was the 15th Cagay-anon to test positive for COVID-19 since March.
She was also the 6th in Barangay Carmen, after the woman from Zayas who died and her husband and daughter, and two more from Macanhan, all in Carmen.

Doctors said the woman from Dabatian Street died of acute respiratory failure.

Authorities sealed off three entrance and exit points at Dabatian Street where containment checkpoints were set up on Mayor Moreno’s orders, according to Nick Jabagat, head of the city government’s Incident Management Team.

Jabagat said the community will be under focused containment status for 14 days and be subjected to health surveillance.

Mayor Moreno said the government will send relief goods to Dabatian Street residents to aid them during the two-week quarantine period.

Mayor Moreno said Cagayan de Oro 1st District Congressman Rolando Uy and Carmen Barangay Chairwoman Lorna Uy have sent additional relief aid for the families living on Dabatian Street.

He appealed to residents to provide useful information to the Barangay Health Emergency Response Team (Bhert) to make their contact-tracing work easier.

Meanwhile, Dr. Rocha appealed to the public to immediately consult doctors if they fall ill and showed symptoms of Covid-19 infection. Dr. Rocha cited the case of the woman from Dabatian Street who did not go to a doctor immediately despite showing signs of the Covid-19 disease.

The woman had been vomiting, had a fever, stomachache, and breathing difficulties.

“We’re strongly emphasizing that dili lang tungod sa ubo, sip-on, apil ang diarrhea ug sakit sa tiyan ang simtomas sa Covid-19,” Dr. Rocha said.

He said people who get sick should see doctors for treatment before their conditions worsened. (Annabelle Ricalde, Abigail Malalis, and Archie Pagayaman of CIO)