BY CARLA P. GOMEZ
Mayor Rex Jalando-on said he has ordered the lockdown of the La Carlota City Hall complex for a week starting yesterday after his executive assistant tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday.
The mayor told the DAILY STAR he and about 18 city hall employees who came in contact with the EA are also on lockdown in their residences.
Jalando-on said the EA and his wife had tested positive for COVID-19 and it has not been determined where they contracted the virus. His EA had travelled to Bacolod on July 22 and 25, the mayor said.
The mayor said he issued Executive Order No. 53 Series of 2020 Sunday night that provides additional precautionary measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in La Carlota City.
The EO was issued in the light of the spate of positive cases involving local residents, including his EA, he said.
EO No. 53 orders the lockdown of La Carlota City Hall complex from August 10-17 for disinfection and contact tracing. This includes the Mayor’s Office Building, Main City Hall, Sangguniang Panlungsod Building, Negosyo Center Building and the CMO Annex Building, the EO said.
“No individual is allowed to enter the area. All employees working at the City Hall are ordered to stay at home and cancel all transactions which will require them to get out of their houses,” the EO said.
Anyone who experiences symptoms of COVID-19, is required to submit himself on herself to the City Health Office for swab test, it added.
The skeletal workforce will be the only employees authorized to deliver to and pick up documents from the signatories, the EO said.
The EO also states that:
*The household lockdown of direct contacts will be lifted strictly 10 days after their Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) test results are released;
- Mass gatherings, including wakes, are limited to 50 percent of the capacity of the venue and all guests should sign in the logbook provided by the organizer or the bereaved family;
- Wakes are limited to a maximum of five days only and burials are limited to immediate family members ;
*Religious groups are encouraged to hold their worship activities online for the next two weeks;
*Individuals 20 years old and below, and 60 years old and above are strongly advised to stay indoors;
*Travelers from Bacolod City will be considered Persons Under Monitoring and are discouraged from leaving their homes upon arrival in La Carlota City. They are required to inform their barangays, though the Barangay Health Emergency Response Team (BHERTs) , when they experience flu-like symptoms; and
*Ayungon Elementary School is designated as the City Healing Center for COVID-positive residents who cannot be accommodated in the provincial healing centers.
Jalandoon and direct contacts of the City Hall employee are on lockdown, too, the post said.
PHO CLOSED
In Bacolod City, the Negros Occidental Provincial Health Office at Benjamin Hall was closed for disinfection yesterday after a Department of Heath 6 nurse also tested positive for COVID-19, Dr. Ernell Tumimbang, Provincial Health Officer, said.*
