Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson and 18 employees of the Department of the Interior and Local Government in Negros Occidental went on isolation yesterday, Jan. 26, after they were exposed to an official of the DILG-Iloilo Province who tested positive for COVID-19.
The infected DILG executive attended the Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Summit in Bacolod City on Jan. 22.
The DILG official and 22 others, who tested positive for the virus, are assigned at the DILG-Iloilo Provincial Office that was placed on lockdown on Jan. 25, the DILG-Region 6 reported on its website.
Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz II said that Lacson and the 18 DILG employees are scheduled for swab tests today, Jan. 27.
The DILG-Negros Occidental provincial office was also closed yesterday for disinfection, and will resume operations today.
Diaz said that the Iloilo-based DILG official who tested positive for the virus is classified as APOR or Authorized Person Outside of Residence and is exempted from inspection at the ports.
He added that Lacson had a direct contact with the infected official during the summit’s awarding rites.
Diaz said he hopes that the governor’s swab test will yield a negative result so that he can go back to work.
“We really have to be careful. It’s (virus) just there. We can hurt people by not being responsible,” he said. “APOR or not, we have to follow health protocols all the times.”
Meanwhile, the DILG-Region 6 said in a statement that extensive contact tracing has been done to determine up to the second degree of contact made by the 23 DILG employees who tested positive of the virus.
Their office has already been decontaminated. – GB
