ILOILO City – Cong. Julienne Baronda is currently on home quarantine.
According to Baronda, on March 9 she had a meeting with Secretary Wendel Avisado of the Department of Budget and Management regarding priority projects and programs for the city.
Though not exposed to a person positive for the novel coronavirus causing a pneumonia-like illness now called COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), Avisado came in contact with Finance secretary Carlos Dominguez who was in a meeting last week with someone who tested positive for the virus.
Avisado decided to self-quarantine just like Dominguez.
“Being a responsible leader and mother, I am subjecting myself to home quarantine even if I do not have any symptom of COVID-19 as a standard precautionary measure advised by health authorities,” said Baronda in a statement.
The most common symptoms of COVID-19 are fever, tiredness, and dry cough, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Some patients may have aches and pains, nasal congestion, runny nose, sore throat or diarrhea.
On March 10, as vice chairperson of the House Committee on Transportation, Baronda helped facilitate the interface of House legislators with Secretary Arthur Tugade of the Department of Transportation.
Baronda added that the almost day-long meeting exposed her to the secretary and his team.
Tugade decided to go on self-quarantine after his exposure on March 5 and 6 to a person who tested positive for the COVID-19 virus.
Aside from Baronda, Councilor Alan Zaldivar is also on self-quarantine.
He had contact with his sister, the latter’s husband and daughter who returned here on March 12 from Australia which has 156 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with three fatalities.
Zaldivar said other family members who had close contact with his sister and her family also decided to undergo self-quarantine.
“As chairman of the committee on health, it is imperative for me to be a role model.
Integrity is doing the right thing, one cannot compromise public safety,” said Zaldivar.
Meanwhile, Baronda urged the public to also take care of their health by religiously taking multivitamins, doing exercise and by observing sanitary protocols because “indeed prevention is better than cure.”
“We can conquer the COVID-19 threat by being will informed, by observing health protocols and most of all, by imploring God’s divine help,” said Baronda.
According to WHO, people can catch COVID-19 from others who have the virus. The disease can spread from person to person through small droplets from the nose or mouth which are spread when a person with COVID-19 coughs or exhales. These droplets land on objects and surfaces around the person.
Other people then catch COVID-19 by touching these objects or surfaces, then touching their eyes, nose or mouth.
People can also catch COVID-19 if they breathe in droplets from a person with COVID-19 who coughs out or exhales droplets, according to WHO.
This is why it is important to stay more than one meter (three feet) away from a person who is sick, it stressed./PN
