BY JUANCHO GALLARDE
A lawmaker from Negros Oriental, his family, and some other individuals, have voluntarily undergone home quarantine after coming in contact with a possible coronavirus disease infected official of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
In a press briefing yesterday, assistant provincial health officer, Dr. Liland Estacion, who is also the health committee chair of the provincial Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, however, allayed public fears, saying the matter has already been “contained” and the subject person and his contacts are under close monitoring.
On Friday, the DPWH district engineer, upon arrival in Dumaguete, was subjected to Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT), which yielded a positive result. He came in contact with a number of people at the time of his arrival.
He was met at the airport, had gone to the DPWH warehouse in Cangmating, Sibulan, and paid a courtesy call on the congressman and his staff that same day, before he was told hours later that he was RDT positive.
Estacion said she called up the Provincial Tourism Unit for the whereabouts of the engineer through the locator form that he had filled out upon arrival, but sadly, he had already met with the congressman and talked with other people.
Estacion, however, cautioned the public against making judgments while awaiting the result of a throat swab test done on the official.
“A positive RDT result does not necessarily mean that a person is positive of Covid-19,” she said. The engineer and some of his staff are now under quarantine.*
