- MITCH M. LIPA
Don Salvador Benedicto Mayor Marxlen Dela Cruz has temporarily suspended the scheduled market day in every barangay of the town, effective Sept. 23 until further notice, due to a spike in the number of COVID cases.
The suspension was stated in Executive Order 2021-09-009, dated Sept. 22, or “An EO imposing stringent measures on gatherings, parties, other super-spreader activities and suspension of market days in the municipality of Don Salvador Benedicto”.
Dela Cruz said this is to avert the spike of COVID cases in the town with 19 new infections logged in one week, adding this was the highest in the weekly data of the town.
DSB now has 30 active COVID patients quarantined in the town’s isolation facility. From last week’s 71 positive cases, the town logged 90 cases today.
Dela Cruz said every barangay of DSB has their own market day when buyers of food, ready to wear items, and wholesalers of vegetable products purchase bulk of stocks for retail.
He added that the local government observes that market day is a possible spreader of the coronavirus because of the gathering of people from different barangays and those coming from other local government units.
The town will also implement stricter policies in accepting bookings of events of restaurants and resorts. The town is requiring the management of every business establishments to coordinate with the local government if there are bookings for gatherings, like anniversaries and other types of celebrations, so that the local government can send staff to check if the visitors are following the rules on the wearing of face masks and if the seating arrangement complies with the social distancing policy and on how long the visitors will stay in the area.
Other events that gather big number of participants are still prohibited, Dela Cruz said, because the town wants to avoid becoming a meeting place of people coming from different areas of the province and possibly transmitting virus to each other since no one requires them to undergo an RT-PCR or antigen testing.
Dela Cruz, meanwhile, admitted there is low vaccine acceptance among the senior citizens in DSB.
The local health office has been going to the different barangays to bring the vaccines closer to priority residents, particularly the elderly, but those who have registered a day before failed to show up during the vaccination day, he added.
The town recorded four COVID-related deaths since the start of the pandemic and all of them were unvaccinated, Dela Cruz said and he appeals anew for residents to get vaccinated. — MML
