The Bacolod Emergency Operations Center is verifying whether Transcom employees who recently tested positive for COVID-19, or who came in contact with them, were part of a group that visited Sipalay City in southern Negros Occidental, Dr. Chris Sorongon, EOC deputy for medical data and analysis, said today, February 3.
The group of Transcom agents went to Sipalay City on January 26 and 27, he said.
The EOC is determining whether those Transcom employees are among those working onsite, and not from home, Sorongon said.
If they had exposure we have to find out what means of transportation they took and conduct further extensive contact tracing, Sorongon said.
The Bacolod City government shut down the operations of Transcom for 48 hours late Monday to disinfect its facilities in Barangay Tangub after 41 of its employees tested positive for COVID-19.
Transcom cannot resume full operations tomorrow because employees who were subjected to surveillance testing are still under 14-day quarantine, even if they tested negative, unless they are cleared by the EOC contact tracing cluster, Sorongon said.
The EOC will conduct an onsite inspection and meet with the Transcom country manager tomorrow afternoon, he said.
“Transcom has to implement all of the EOC recommendations as far as minimum health protocols are concerned first,” he said.
Meanwhile, the EOC is again reminding Bacolodnons, who have COVID-19 symptoms, to seek immediate medical attention.
Early detection is one important step in curbing the spread of COVID-19 by isolating the positive patient throughout the incubation period of the virus, an EOC statement said.
The Bacolod Respiratory Outpatient (BRO) Center continues to offer free consultation and free swabbing to test those who show COVID-19 symptoms, it said.
The public need not be afraid or hesitant in seeking consultation at the BRO Center since not everyone who has symptoms test positive for COVID-19, it added.
EOC data showed that only 10 out of 170 persons swabbed at the BRO Center, from January 18 to 31, turned out to be positive for COVID-19, or an equivalent of 5.88 percent.*