Tayasan councilor is 9th COVID-19 fatality

By Glazyl Y. Masculino and Dolly Yasa

BACOLOD City – A town councilor in Negros Oriental who tested positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) died on Sunday.

Bimbo Miraflor, public information officer of the provincial government, said that the 65-year-old councilor who was tagged as patient PH39 expired at Siliman University Medical Center (SUMC) in Dumaguete City at around 11:09 a.m. due to complications.

He was an immunocompromised patient who previously had a kidney transplant.

Miraflor said they already contacted the councilor’s family and subjected them to quarantine.

“After the patient was admitted to the hospital, they immediately went into self-quarantine,” he said.

Health officials are also tracing the 240 teachers and students the councilor came into contact with during the flag ceremony at Tayasan on March 2 and a graduation ceremony of Tayasan elementary students.

He was tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday after travelling to Metro Manila.

Miraflor said the patient attended the Philippine Councilor’s League (PCL) 11th national congress in Metro Manila on February 27. The following day, he visited Greenhills in San Juan, which is one of the COVID-19 affected areas in the National Capital Region (NCR).

He came home on March 1 and attended a Sangguniang Bayan (SB) session and a recognition ceremony in a public school in the town. Two days later, he had diarrhea and body malaise and was admitted to Ace Dumaguete Doctor’s Hospital on March 6 and was tested three days after.

On March 10, he was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the SUMC, where he died five days later.

Miraflor said the patient’s body will be cremated within 12 hours. The provincial government expressed its sincerest condolences to the councilor’s bereaved family and relatives.

Miraflor also denied earlier reports that the province will be temporarily closing down its borders.

“There’s no community quarantine and travel restrictions, we just have to intensify our preventive measures and closely monitor the people,” he said, adding that the number of Persons Under Monitoring (PUMs) in the province may still increase.

At present, the province has 12 Persons Under Investigation (PUIs), one of whom is being traced after he went out of the hospital without doctor’s advice on Saturday.

“He is now being tracked by the authorities,” he added.

Governor Roel Degamo said there is “no lockdown and travel restrictions coming to and out of Negros Oriental.”

He added that mobile checkpoints will also be deployed at the many mountain highways connecting the two provinces composed of the Philippine National Police and the military.

The governor called Negrenses for their help and cooperation, he further said.