ILOILO – The Department of Education (DepEd) Division of Iloilo has recorded 21 confirmed cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) among its personnel and learners.
Of these cases, nine are active cases, 10 already recovered while two died, according to Leonil Salvilla, information officer of the Schools Division of Iloilo.
Also, eight of these were learners, three were non-teaching personnel and 10 were teaching personnel.
The most recent case was a 40-year-old female teacher of Guimbal National High School (NHS) in the municipality of Guimbal.
The teacher was asymptomatic and quarantined at the town’s isolation facility, according to Darwin Haro, Principal IV of Guimbal NHS.
Her Oct. 19 result was part of the second batch of “pooled testing” conducted by the Rural Health Unit (RHU) on Oct. 15.
For the time being, the national high school is temporarily off limits to the public, Haro said.
It is still unclear how the teacher contracted the viral infection.
But according to Salvilla, majority of the cases – recorded between May and September – contracted the virus from relatives at home, friends and in visits to places such as hospitals.
“Na-acquire nila [ang disease] sa ila nga community. For example, ang first case nga na-record among the learners had history of travel to Western Visayas Medical Center. So, wala na-acquire during module retrieval or submission. Tapos may iban close contacts sang nag-positive,” Salvilla explained.
Salvilla also said personnel who recovered from the respiratory illness may resume work.
Those who would get infected with COVID-19 may avail themselves of Philippine Health Insurance Corp.’s benefit packages for hospitalization and treatment.
DepEd personnel are also entitled to a daily hazard pay amounting to P500 in areas under enhanced community quarantine and modified ECQ.
“Still, gina-reiterate naton ang pag-observe sang public health protocols, especially sa distribution and retrieval sang mga modules kay ti ang mga teachers nagakapot sa modules halin sa nagkalain-lain nga barangay,” Salvilla pointed out.
He appealed to parents to monitor their children with the help of barangay officials.
Due to the ongoing public health emergency, the government has prohibited in-person classes pending the availability of a vaccine against COVID-19.
Classes resumed on Oct. 5 under a new set up with students’ learning taking place from their homes through printed and digital modules, online classes, radio, and television.
Traditional face-to-face learning – where the students and the teacher are both physically present in the classroom, and there are opportunities for active engagement, immediate feedback, and socio-emotional development of learners – will only resume when the pandemic is over./PN
