HUMAN OR SYSTEMS ERROR? Igbaras town councilor now tests negative for Covid-19

By Emme Rose Santiagudo

A councilor of Igbaras town in Iloilo tested negative for coronavirus disease (Covid-19) on Thursday, five days after testing positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus, according to Mayor Jaime Esmeralda.

Esmeralda confirmed on Friday that he already received the official negative results of the 55-year-old Sangguniang Bayan (SB) member or WV Patient No. 114 including the laboratory results of the almost 50 close contacts of the patient who were also negative.

“Negative ang aton SB Member. Kagab-i nagwa ang official result from the Iloilo Provincial Health Office (PHO). It was a repeat test including more or less 50 laboratory results of his close contacts who also tested negative,” he said in a phone interview on Friday.

The Department of Health-Center for Health Development Western Visayas (DOH-CHD 6) reported last June 1 the first confirmed case in the town of Igbaras.

The results came as a surprise to the local government of Igbaras as the patient had no travel history for almost one month. He was subjected to testing last May 27 alongside 50 individuals from the municipality of Igbaras as part of the expanded testing in the first district of Iloilo.

Esmeralda said the patient was again subjected to a repeat confirmatory test on June 2 to June 3 alongside more or less 150 close contacts.

According to the mayor, the real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test might have only detected the viral remnants in the patient who may have possibly contracted the virus at an earlier time.

“Actually, daw may posilibidad nga natabo kay basi maybe last time nga positive siya napick-up pa gid sang test ang mga remnants sang virus kay asymptomatic siya. Pwede man nga nagmasakit siya long before tapos may remnant sang virus, napick up sang (first test) and after five days nag-amat-amat na gid man nadula ang particles sang DNA sang lawas niya amo na nag negative siya,” Esmeralda said.

Esmeralda said it is also possible that there was a human/encoding error, contamination or interchanging of the collected specimens.

“Indi mo man ma-discount ang possibility nga basi may mga human error, na-contaminate sa pag-extract, pwede man nga pag-type nila nagsala lang encode, or may pag-interchange sang specimens or results, sa kay kadamo na sang mga specimens sa lab,” he said.

Nevertheless, Esmeralda said the damage has already been done in their municipality citing discrimination, economic impacts, and low morale by the town’s residents.

“We are happy with the negative results although the damage has been done when we experienced diskiriminasyon sa bilog nga probinsya, kag ang epekto sa amon mental state of mind, moral aspect, low esteem ang mga pumuluyo sang Igbaras tungod sa ina. Ang economy namon di waay masyado may nagnegosyo nga damo nagpigado gid,” he lamented.

Whether there was human error in the test or not, Esmeralda hopes that their case will be a precedent for the health department to correct, review the system, and fully improve the testing capacity of the Western Visayas Medical Center Sub National Laboratory (WVMC-SNL) in Iloilo City.

“I believe tam-an man ang DOH ka sako, ang burden ara man sa ila, if in case may human error gid man kabay pa mangin precedent na ni amon para maimprove pa gid naton kung kulang pa gid sa facilities ukon padamuon naton ang personnel, ang mga tawo nga nagaubra dira and machine to cope up with the magnitude of tests nga nagasulod dira,” he stressed.

Esmeralda said they are only waiting for the more or less 97 official laboratory results of the patient’s close contacts although he already received information that all of the close contacts were negative.

All the close contacts, especially those who are high-risk will be required to finish their 14-day quarantine which will end on Monday next week, according to Esmeralda.

Meanwhile, the local government unit (LGU) of Igbaras will also resume its operations on Monday.

Recently, the municipal hall has been temporarily closed to give way for massive disinfection and testing of the employees.

The mayor appealed to the residents to not remain complacent and continue to practice the minimum health standards such as wearing masks, physical distancing, and personal hygiene.