ILOILO – Forty-eight employees of CityMall in Passi City tested positive for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as of yesterday morning.
According to Mayor Stephen Palmares, the cases were detected from 200 mall employees who underwent swabbing for reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test.
Of the 48 cases, 24 were assigned at the grocery department. The others were salesladies, cashiers, merchandisers, and security guards.
The COVID-hit employees were placed under quarantine facility, Palmares said, with some being monitored as they have mild symptoms.
“Ang index case sa Accounting Office sang Save More… may isa ka empleyado sang Barangay Agdahon nga daw indi mayad pamatyag kag nakita sa pagpakonsulta nga (may) COVID-19 symptoms. So, gin-swab kag naggwa result nga positive,” Palmares told Panay News.
Massive contact tracing followed. All employees of the Accounting Office were swabbed; five turned out positive for coronavirus.
“After that, I decided nga i-subject ang tanan nga employees sa swabbing,” Palmares said.
On Friday, the mayor ordered CityMall closed for three days to give way to contact tracing and decontamination.
Mall operations resume today. Only employees with negative RT-PCR test results could go back to work.
Contact tracing extends to the infected personnel’s family and board mates.
Palamas urged those who came by CityMall and stayed (for at least 15 minutes) Tuesday or Wednesday last week to coordinate with their barangay officials or Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams for assessment.
The mayor reminded everyone to always observe minimum health protocols such as wearing of facemask and face shield, social distancing and proper hand sanitation./PN
