ILOILO – A 94-year-old man from Miag-ao town is Western Visayas’ oldest positive case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), data from the Department of Health (DOH) showed.
His having contracted SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes COVID-19, has baffled Miag-ao’s Mayor Macario Napulan, a physician.
The patient, weakened by old age, does not even go out of his house, said Napulan.
He also does not have close contact with any known COVID-19 case, the mayor added.
“Ang contacts niya sa balay iya man lang kabataan kag apo,” said Napulan.
Around 10 of them were set to be tested for COVID-19, he revealed.
The old man is currently confined at a hospital in Iloilo City.
He started coughing on March 10. When he had fever on March 24 his family brought him to Miag-ao’s rural health unit (RHU). He was eventually confined in a government hospital.
The old man was discharged from the hospital on March 28 but hospitalized again on March 30 for difficulty of breathing.
On April 1 he underwent COVID-19 testing. The result was released on April 4 – he was positive for the disease.
Napulan said the patient may have contracted the virus from someone when he was first hospitalized on March 24, or got it from family members who had the virus but asymptomatic.
Wary of a possible spread of COVID-19, Napulan ordered a 14-day lockdown of the old man’s barangay beginning April 5.
No one will be allowed to leave or enter the barangay. All barangay residents should observe home quarantine, said Napulan.
He tasked the Miag-ao police station and soldiers of the Philippine Army based in the town to distribute food assistance to the barangay’s 200 households.
“Para indi na sila (residents) makagwa sa ila balay,” said Napulan.
The 94-year-old man is the second conformed COVID-19 case in Miag-ao. The first is a 22-year-old female from another barangay with a history of travel to Metro Manila./PN
