BY SHIELA G. GELERA
The staff of a coffee shop in La Castellana, Negros Occidental, where a 60-year-old COVID-19 fatality from La Carlota City dined a week before she died, were placed under quarantine and are set to undergo swab testing, Mayor Rhumyla Nicor-Mangilimutan said yesterday.
The mayor said that, as of yesterday, authorities have contact-traced about 1,470 individuals, some of whom also visited the café located in Barangay Cabagnaan, La Castellana.
Mangilimutan said they immediately closed the café on Monday after receiving reports that the COVID-19 patient from La Carlota had died.
Those who had gone to the cafe were advised to undergo self-quarantine, monitoring, and should report their status to the nearest health center, Mangilimutan said.
Before the contact-tracing, the mayor said precautionary measures were already in place all over La Castellana due for the increasing number of local transmissions of the virus.
Mangilimutan said she had issued an executive order regulating the entry of people to the town, adding that non-residents arriving in La Castellana are required to present a medical certificate.
Intensified checkpoint operations and keeping a logbook for contact tracing is strictly enforced, she said.
“I urge the public to stay at home because we’ll never know when the virus strikes us and I encourage everyone to travel only if it is essential, and not just for leisure purposes,” Mangilimutan added.*
