ILOILO City – For three days beginning today, city hall will be closed.
All city government officials and employees will be swabbed and their specimens would be analyzed for the possible presence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Mayor Jerry Treñas expressed hope that all test results would be released by weekend.
He announced city hall’s temporary closure and “mass testing” yesterday, a day after ordering a two-day suspension of the City Treasurer’s Office’s (CTO) operation due to 32 COVID-19 cases in that office.
In random COVID-19 tests on CTO employees, 75 have so far tested negative for the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
According to Treñas, officials or employees with no negative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test results won’t be allowed to enter city hall.
On Monday, the mayor disallowed CTO employees from reporting to work unless their test results showed them negative for the virus.
He advised CTO clients, especially taxpayers, to wait.
“Mahulat-hulat kamo anay kay madasig naman ang pagwa sang swab results,” Treñas said.
He added: “May mga nag-positive nga malapit gid sa akon. But there’s nothing we can do. We go on, understanding nga there’s always a possibility nga ikaw, ako, kita tanan mag-positive.”
COVID-19 spreads from person to person through small droplets from the nose or mouth which are spread when a person with COVID-19 coughs or exhales.
These droplets also land on objects and surfaces around the person. Other people then catch COVID-19 by touching these objects or surfaces, then touching their eyes, nose or mouth./PN
