ILOILO City – A clueless coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) carrier appeared to have infected 13 people who attended a fiesta in a far flung-village of Guimbal, Iloilo.
The asymptomatic female patient was not a resident of the town but she became the index case in a 13-case cluster of infections.
Dr. Jay Dorin, head of the Municipal Health Office (MHO), said the woman was from Iloilo City who visited relatives in Guimbal on Sept. 25 for a departed family member’s “hukas-lalaw” or first death anniversary and a barangay fiesta the next day.
Prior to her visit, the index case was not yet swabbed and diagnosed with COVID-19.
She was eventually tagged as one of the close contacts of her husband who also got infected.
The husband appeared to have gotten the virus from his uncle – a dialysis patient – and subsequently passed the virus to his wife, said Dorin.
It was, however, unclear when the man’s test result came out. But Dorin said it was released sometime after his wife’s Guimbal trip.
On Oct. 1, the woman’s sister in Guimbal was included in the contact tracing and turned out positive, too.
This prompted the MHO to conduct contact tracing on Oct. 6, where 14 of the woman’s relatives – all residents of Guimbal – were swabbed and six of them tested positive.
Of the six positives, one of them was the index case’s brother – a local government employee of the municipality. He later infected three more of his co-workers.
The three employees, on the other hand, infected four more close contacts.
In total, Dorin said they have traced over 130 close contacts.
The 13 new COVID-19 cases pushed Guimbal’s total to 37 as of Oct. 14.
Dorin urged all Guimbalanons to religiously practice the minimum health standards aimed to curb the transmission of the virus.
He also encouraged the public practice reverse isolation and health protocols even at home.
“Kon may mga paryente kita nga halin sa city or kita mismo nga taga Guimbal nga gaobra sa city, try to isolate ourselves, reverse isolation nga ginatawag,” said Dorin./PN
