BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Mayor Pedro Zayco yesterday placed the entire Kabankalan City Hall on lockdown for three days, after seven of its employees tested positive for coronavirus disease 2019.
The lockdown will pave the way for the decontamination and disinfection of City Hall. Operations will resume on Nov. 23, Zayco said.
Six of the seven employees who tested positive for the virus are assigned at the City Engineer’s Office, and one at the City Assessor’s Office.
Zayco said he will submit himself and the staff of the City Mayor’s Office, as well as personnel of the City Assessor’s Office to swab testing.
He also disclosed his plan to require all City Hall employees to undergo swab testing.
With the resumption of work on Monday, Zayco said they will strictly enforce the wearing of face masks and face shields in all government buildings.
City Administrator Sixto Garaygay said the seven city employees had close contact with an employee of the City Engineer’s Office who died recently due to Covid complications.
The Kabankalan City government is pushing for the 5-day duty and 5-day off work schedule for all city government employees starting next week until everyone is tested and the situation normalized.
City Health Officer, Dr. Fernando Fernandez, said the arrangement is allowed under the new guidelines of the Civil Service Commission.
While most of the new cases were asymptomatic, Fernandez said they were immediately brought to a quarantine facility in Kabankalan City. Their immediate family members have also been alerted and advised to undergo swab testing.
He added that local contact tracers from CHO are looking for other employees, who had transactions at the City Engineer’s Office last week, for them to also undergo swab testing.*GPB
