ILOILO City – Being “negative” is not such a bad thing after all, especially in this time of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
To allay neighbors’ fears, call center agents Louise Mae Zamora and Ray Mart Lopez displayed huge tarpaulins outside their respective houses announcing the “negative” results of their COVID-19 tests.
“Para wala damo istorya. Athag na sa mga chismosa,” according to Lopez.
There is an outbreak of COVID-19 in the call center where Zamora and Lopez work. This has made their neighbors anxious.
The tarpaulins “congratulated” Zamora and Lopez – a way to combat community discrimination.
According to Lopez, some rumormongers in his neighborhood were spreading the falsity that he had COVID-19.
“No one deserves to be discriminated,” Zamora stressed.
She also took a photograph of her tarpaulin and a copy of her test result from the Western Visayas Medical Center sub-national laboratory and posted these on Facebook for everyone to see.
This saved her time and energy going around assuring everyone she was not a COVID-19 virus carrier, explained Zamora.
Yes, they were proud of their negative test results, according to Lopez and Zamora.
Data from the City Health Office (CHO) as of Aug. 11 showed 131 call center agents of IQOR tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
And as of Aug. 12, 1,073 call center agents of IQOR tested negative for the virus, CHO data further showed.
The RT-PCR tests were conducted by the Western Visayas Medical Center sub-national laboratory and Qualimed Molecular Laboratory.
COVID-19 can spread from person to person through small droplets from the nose or mouth which are spread when an infected person coughs or exhales.
The most common symptoms of COVID-19 are fever, tiredness, and dry cough.
Some patients may have aches and pains, nasal congestion, runny nose, sore throat or diarrhea.
Possible COVID-19 vaccines and some specific drug treatments are currently under investigation. They are being tested through clinical trials. The World Health Organization is coordinating efforts to develop vaccines and medicines to prevent and treat COVID-19./PN
