HEALTH workers stepped up a house-to-house search in Barangay Camaman-an to identify people who may have been exposed to a Covid-19 patient who died in a hospital here last week.

The medical sleuthing has so far covered 680 houses within a 50-meter radius of the house of Patient 6783 in Pinikitan, Barangay Camaman-an, this city.

“Our target is 1,000 houses and we could probably finish the search by Monday,” said Dr. Joselito Retuya, chief epidemiologist of the Cagayan de Oro City Health Office.

Retuya said despite the number of people already examined and questioned, the crucial question on how deceased man, referred to as Patient 6783, contracted Covid-19 remains.

“I will be honest with you, we still do not know how he contracted the virus,” Retuya said.

Patient 6783, a 69-year-old storekeeper in Pinikitan, died at the Northern Mindanao Medical Center on April 18.

The search or contact tracing started when the deceased was admitted to the NMMC. (Patient 6783 was referred to the Northern Mindanao Medical Center by the Polymedic General Hospital as a suspect Covid-19 case on April 15, and not April 17 as earlier reported in this paper.)

Mayor Oscar Moreno and doctors at the NMMC and Department of Health’s regional office were later informed that Patient 6783 tested positive for Covid-19.

Moreno said the man did not have any travel history, raising a scary possibility that it was a case of local transmission.

Retuya said a team composed of 20 barangay health workers, a nurse, and a doctor found only nine people who complained of colds and slight fever but none of the symptoms of the Covid-19.

He said the medical workers are residents of Barangay Camaman-an, making the search faster since they know the community.

Despite the familiarity, Retuya said they face a black wall on where the patient had been to.

“The health conditions of the nine persons do not even warrant a swab test. We advised them to stay indoors,” Retuya said.

Retuya said the City Health Office is also reviewing death certificates of those who recently died in Pinikitan in the hope of identifying anyone who may have infected the man.

He said they were puzzled because based on their interviews with the granddaughter and son of the deceased, the old man was ailing, nearly bed-ridden, and spent much of his time at the back of a store.

“We were told he barely came out to watch the store. So, who could have infected him?” Retuya asked.

Retuya said they have already contacted, checked on the doctor and nurse who examined the patient when he was admitted at the Polymedic hospital here.

He said both the doctor and nurse told them they were wearing masks, goggles and protective clothing or PPE.

Retuya said all 16 family members of the patient have been taken to an isolation facility.

The news that a positive Covid-19 patient died caused a major uproar in Barangay Camaman-an, a densely populated urban area in Cagayan de Oro.

Overnight, residents put up chokepoints and barricades in Pinikitan, Adela, and Ramonal subdivisions to prevent non-residents from entering their streets.

Jittery men and youngsters manned the chokepoints and barricades demanding to see the barangay exit passes of everyone on the streets.

Most of them even set up improvised disinfection cubicles made of plastic materials, which they require passersby.

Many of them have small bottles of alcohol which they spray on the hands of passersby. (Froilan Gallardo)