BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – Thirty-five households in Barangay Bacuyangan, Hinoba-an, Negros Occidental were placed under a 14-day lockdown over the weekend. Two deaths due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) were reported in three days there.
The lockdown – affecting 158 individuals – was ordered by Mayor Ernesto Estrao to give way to massive disinfection and contact tracing.
Town councilor Jason Tembrevilla Tupas said the municipal government will provide the needs of the locked down households.
It also came to their attention that a resident of Bacuyangan – a traveler from Luzon – tested positive for COVID-19.
However, instead of being recorded in the town, the case was logged to Bacolod City, as the resident used Bacolod as address.
Another Bacolod resident who underwent a swab test also went to Hinoba-an. The person then tested positive for COVID-19.
Tupas said the patient was isolated and the household that the patient visited was locked down.
The councilor blamed Resolution No. 101 issued by the National Inter-Agency Task Force for the spike in COVID-19 cases in the town.
He said it removed the mandatory swabbing and quarantine in Negros Occidental, while the Department of Interior and Local Government also removed the medical certificate requirement.
“Damo sang nagabinutig kag naga-misdeclare sang ila address sa aton border. Halos wala na disiplina ang tawo sa mga giho kag gakalipatan na ang mga health protocols,” Tupas lamented.
As of April 24, the Rural Health Unit of Hinoba-an recorded a total of four active COVID-19 cases./PN
