BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – At least 12 emergency responders who tended to several people involved in a multiple vehicle collision earlier this week were placed on quarantine.
It was too late when the rescue workers found out that the South Bacolod General Hospital ambulance that crashed against a sport utility vehicle and a truck was transporting a patient diagnosed with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
City Administrator Em Ang, who also heads the city’s Emergency Operations Center, said four rescue workers from the Bacolod City Bureau of Fire Protection, four from EMR Raptor and four from the Chamber Volunteer Fire Brigade (CVFB) underwent swabbing.
They are currently waiting for their test results.
Two CVFB responders were also noted to have entered the ambulance to rescue trapped passengers.
But Bryant Lao, CVFB chief, said the responders should not have been swabbed immediately by the city government.
“[The swabbing] should have been done at least six days after they were quarantined as they may develop the COVID-19 symptoms at a later time,” Lao said.
Wednesday’s three-vehicle smashup on the corner of San Sebastian and Lacson streets in Barangay 32 left an ambulance driver dead and four others wounded./PN
