ILOILO City – Thirty-eight inmates and two jail personnel – a custodian and a nurse – of the Iloilo City District Jail – Male Dormitory in Barangay Ungka, Jaro district tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
They likely got the virus from an inmate who died on Sept. 16 while being treated at the Western Visayas Medical Center (WVMC), according to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) Region 6.
This inmate, a 31-year-old male drug suspect, was remitted to the facility just this July 31, said Jail Senior Superintendent Gilbert Peremne, deputy regional director for administration of BJMP-6.
On Sept. 6, this inmate suddenly collapsed and was rushed to the WVMC. There, he was tested. His positive result was released just this Sept. 10.
Peremne said 42 inmates and eight jail personnel who had closed contact with the inmate were immediately subjected to reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test.
Forty test results were released on Monday, Sept. 14.
“We hope that the four other pending test results are all negative for COVID-19. This is the first cases of COVID-19 in a Western Visayas jail,” said Peremne.
The 38 inmates and two jail personnel – all asymptomatic—are now being quarantined at a designated area for COVID-19 cases at the Iloilo City District Jail – Male Dormitory.
The jail was also placed on lockdown.
Jail Superintendent Mary Chanette Espartero, warden, assured the public that the jail facility is very stringent most especially in accepting inmates.
In fact, she said, the inmate who eventually died was initially quarantined for 14 days beginning July 15 at the BJMP prison facility in Barangay Nanga, Pototan, Iloilo – where there was a dedicated isolation facility – before he was remitted to the Iloilo City District Jail – Male Dormitory on July 31.
He was also tested and the result was negative for COVID-19, said Espartero.
“We were surprised when his RT-PCR test (after he collapsed) showed him positive for the disease,” said the jail warden.
Where this inmate got the virus remains unknown./PN
