BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson of Negros Occidental was exposed to a coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) case during an antidrug summit here last week, provincial administrator Atty. Rayfrando Diaz said.
The governor has thus decided to self-quarantine.
According to Diaz, Lacson had contact with an infected official of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG)-Iloilo – an authorized person outside residence – when the governor handed certificates during the Jan. 22 summit.
On Tuesday, 18 employees of DILG-Negros Occidental present in the event were also quarantined.
Today, they will have their specimens collected for reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction test for possible COVID-19 infection.
“The tests will hopefully yield negative results,” Diaz said.
The DILG-Negros Occidental office in La Luz Building on Lacson Street in Barangay Mandalagan had since been closed for disinfection.
“We really have to be careful. COVID-19 is just there. We can hurt people by not being responsible,” Diaz said.
Earlier, 23 personnel of the DILG-Iloilo tested positive for COVID-19 and were subsequently isolated in their respective local government units.
As part of precautionary measures, a work-from-home scheme among the uninfected personnel was implemented.
It was still unclear how the first three cases contracted the viral illness.
All personnel with established contacts with any of the 23 positive cases have already been informed of the test results and were immediately included in the list of contacts for swabbing.
Meanwhile, Regional Director Juan Jovian Ingeniero clarified that notwithstanding the lockdown, DILG-Iloilo remains in operation.
“We guarantee the public that our service will not falter even with this incident. Our commitment remains steadfast in ensuring that we all heal as one,” he said./PN
