BACOLOD City – Due to a surge in flu cases in Negros Occidental, the Department of Education (DepEd) has reinstated its directive for students and school staff to don facemasks.
Just last week, certain schools in the city transitioned to online learning as a number of students reported flu and other respiratory symptoms.
Negros Occidental High School ordered students and school staff to wear facemasks, following observations of increased flu-like symptoms among their attendees.
Similarly, the Efigenio Enrica Lizares Memorial School in Talisay City introduced a facemask requirement, prioritizing individuals who cough.
Ian Arnold Arnaiz, the Public Information Officer of DepEd-Negros Occidental, said the masking directive came highly recommended by the department’s medical team as a protective measure against communicable diseases.
Arnaiz also said students feeling unwell should be sent home immediately.
Grace Tan, chief of the Bacolod City Health Office – Environment Sanitation Division, highlighted their ongoing efforts to monitor the enforcement of Republic Act 11332. This act mandates the reporting of specific diseases and health-related incidents that are of public concern. It necessitates that any potential infection that might lead to an outbreak be promptly reported by the general public or any institution.
As of the previous week, Bacolod City had no confirmed cases of the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
Tan added, “Currently, the City Environment Sanitation Unit hasn’t dispatched any samples to discern if the cases involve RSV.”
She clarified that such samples need to be analyzed either at a laboratory in Manila or the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine to confirm the presence of RSV.
Although RSV predominantly affects children under five, it’s transmitted via respiratory droplets and can also afflict adults and the elderly. Those infected might manifest flu-like symptoms – fever, colds, and severe coughing – which bear a resemblance to symptoms of the coronavirus disease of 2019./PN
