ILOILO – Residents of Barangay Rojas in the northern municipality of Ajuy agreed to observe what Mayor Jett Rojas described as a 15-day “voluntary lockdown” following the death of a 59-year-old female villager who showed symptoms similar to persons with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Mayor Jett Rojas welcomed the residents’ move. He, however, clarified the woman’s test result is yet to be released.
The barangay quarantine, which started yesterday, is a precautionary measure, stressed Rojas.
The woman was taken to the Sara District Hospital on March 26 for severe tonsillitis.
On March 29 she was transferred to a hospital in Iloilo City and classified as a person under investigation (PUI) for exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19 such as weakness (she could barely stand) and diarreah.
The woman died on March 30.
Rojas said the woman was not classified a person under monitoring (PUM) in her barangay because she had no history of travel to areas with COVID-19 cases and no relatives with such travel history.
Furthermore, according to the mayor, Barangay Rojas had no known PUM and PUI from whom the woman could have contracted the disease.
What was known about the woman, according to Rojas, was that a son held a party in their house on March 17 and that the son brought with him seven relatives of his wife from Iloilo City.
Following the woman’s death, Rojas said the son was contacted and so were the seven persons; they were not PUMs, he said.
Be that as it may, Rojas said residents of the barangay deemed it wise to observe home quarantine.
Barangay Rojas is made up of 120 households.
“Gusto nila mag-voluntary lockdown. Wala sang magwa kag wala sang makasulod sa barangay,” Rojas told Panay News.
To ensure the villagers’ provisions during the two-week quarantine, a courier had been designated to do errands, according to the mayor.
The entrance and exit points of the barangay would be guarded by policemen.
Rojas said he would donate his March salary to Barangay Rojas; it would be used to buy food and other provisions./PN
