BY CHRYSEE G. SAMILLANO
The mother and sister of a COVID-19 positive Bacolod City government General Services Office (GSO) utility worker at the at Bacolod Arts, Youth and Sports (BAYS) Center have also been infected by the virus, City Administrator Em Ang said yesterday.
The mother and the sister, who is also a utility worker at the BAYS Center, were confirmed to be COVID-19 positive yesterday, Ang said.
The sister who exhibited COVID-like symptoms and had suffered from a heart attack in 2018, and her mother who has hypertension and is in her 80’s, had been hospitalized even before the test results came out, Ang said.
Tangub Barangay Captain Noli Villarosa ordered a section of Purok Seaside in the barangay sealed off after the two employees assigned to the BAYS Center, who are residents in the area, tested positive for COVID-19.
The lockdown has affected about 40 families.
The Bacolod Respiratory Outpatient (BRO) Center at the BAYS Center, where the two employees had been assigned, has been temporarily closed since yesterday for disinfection and sanitation and will re-open on Monday, Ang said.
She said the disinfection of the BRO Center is a preventive measure. Ang stressed that the GSO worker is not connected to the operation of the BRO Center which serves as a consulting center for mild respiratory cases.
Aside from the utility worker, about 20 personnel assigned at the BAYS Center were made to undergo rapid testing. Out of the 20, one male employee tested positive and was made to undergo swab test, Ang said.
Ang said that if they recover fast, the patients will be released to a step down facility or allowed to undergo home quarantine, depending on the assessment of the doctor.
They have temporarily closed the BRO Center in order to sanitize and disinfect all the equipment and the areas surrounding it. They also have regular disinfection of all government offices in City Hall.
Villarosa said he has requested a senior citizen masseuse (manughilot) to undergo swab test to determine if she is infected with the virus. If the swab results show that she is positive for COVID-19, he will have the whole of Purok Seaside, with about 400 families, ordered locked down.
Mayor Evelio Leonardia has ordered the distribution of food assistance to the affected families.*
