BY MARCHEL P. ESPINA
Seventy-nine personnel of the Department of Public Works and Highways and 30 individuals in Bago City, Negros Occidental, were placed on home quarantine after they came in contact with a Covid-19 patient.
Ceander Rosquillo of the City Health Office in Bago, who is in charge of monitoring the Covid-19 cases, said that from August 2 to 6, they had swabbed 109 persons who were exposed to a personnel of the DPWH 4th Engineering District that is based in the city.
She said the DPWH personnel came in contact with an Authorized Person Outside Residence (APOR) from Victorias City, who tested positive for the virus, after visiting the Land Transportation Office in Bacolod City on July 17.
She added that the government employee was unaware at that time that the APOR was also at the LTO.
The DPWH personnel only learned about it from the news two weeks later, when LTO Bacolod temporarily shut down its office after its personnel also went on home quarantine, she said.
She said the employee sought a swab test at the CHO on July 30, and the result came out positive two days after, on August 1.
She said that contact tracing is still ongoing as many could have been exposed to the patient from July 17 to August 1.
She said that the 79 DPWH personnel who were swabbed were Bago residents.
Other local government units in the district were also informed about the situation, and they were closely coordinating for contact tracing, she added.
She also said they have identified 20 close contacts, including the patient’s family and co-workers, adding that six of them came from other LGUs.
Rosquillo said they recommended that DPWH close its office, pending the results of the swab tests, adding that personnel were told not to report and to go on home quarantine.
Meanwhile, Bago Mayor Nicholas Yulo said the city has 21 active cases, as of August 5.*
