ILOILO – A male employee of the Bids and Award Committee (BAC) at the fifth floor of the Iloilo provincial capitol tested positive for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. suspended work at the capitol today for the disinfection of the building.
The employee is currently confined at a hospital in Iloilo City.
“Symptomatic sia pero recovering naman. Since sang onset sang iya fever, nagpa-admit na sia,” said Atty. Suzette Mamon, acting provincial administrator.
The employee had fever last week and consulted the Provincial Health Office. He was swabbed. The test result – positive for the virus SARS-CoV-2 which causes COVID-19 – was released on Saturday, Aug. 22.
“We’re still trying to figure out how the employee was able to contract the virus. Many people visit the BAC office,” said Mamon.
Contact tracing was launched immediately on Saturday after the employee’s test result came out. As of Sunday morning, 15 close contacts were identified and swabbed.
“They were told to observe home quarantine while waiting for their test results,” Mamon told Panay News.
Work resumes at the capitol on Wednesday, Aug. 26. Tuesday, Aug. 25, is a non-working holiday in Iloilo City, it being its Charter Day.
Mamon urged capitol employees with suspected signs and symptoms of COVID-19 – or have family members with such – to alert their offices immediately so they could be properly assessed.
The most common symptoms of COVID-19 are fever, tiredness, and dry cough. Some patients may have aches and pains, nasal congestion, runny nose, sore throat or diarrhea. These symptoms are usually mild and begin gradually.
Some infected people, however, do not develop any symptoms and do not feel unwell.
Two capitol employees were previously diagnosed with COVID-19. They have since recovered and returned to work.
The first capitol COVID case was a 30-year-old job hire from Barangay Pali Benedicto, Mandurriao, Iloilo City. He was a utility employee at the sixth floor of the capitol.
The second case was a 28-year-old male job hire from Molo, Iloilo City assigned as ground floor utility personnel.
As of Aug. 23, Iloilo province had a total of 704 COVID-19 cases (328 local and 376 locally stranded individuals, repatriated overseas Filipinos and authorized persons outside of residence), with 11 deaths./PN
