COVID-19 cases in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental, soared to 140 Monday, April 5, with 16 members of a Church choir and five lay leaders testing positive, Joe Recalex Alingasa Jr., head of the city’s Emergency Operations Center, said.
Fourteen San Carlos City Hall employees, 19 from the Department of Education and three from the San Carlos City Hospital have also tested positive for the virus, he said.
“The situation is alarming,” he said, adding that of the 140 cases, 123 are local transmissions.
The members of the choir at the Barangay Guadalupe Catholic Church in San Carlos City went to Manapla to sing at an anniversary of a priest and passed by Campuestohan Resort in Talisay City before going home, Alingasa said.
A member of the choir who was set to return to his job in Saudi Arabia had himself tested for the virus and it was discovered that he was COVID-19 positive, he added.
On contact tracing , 29 residents of Barangay Guadalupe tested positive for COVID -19, including 15 other choir members, Alingasa said.
Mayor Renato Gustilo went to Guadalupe Monday on receiving information that one male resident who was positive for the virus was refusing to be quarantined, Alingasa said.
The mayor was later able to convince the Guadalupe resident to be quarantined, he added.
Five out of 20 Church lay leaders from San Carlos City proper who went to the priest’s anniversary in Manapla also tested positive for COVID-19, he said.
A new work scheme is being adopted at the San Carlos City Hall to limit the exposure of government employees to COVID-19 risks, Alingasa said.
Under the scheme, an employee has the option to work from home one day a week, he said.
All 27 San Carlos City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office employees exposed to their COVID positive co-worker tested negative Monday, he added.
Gustilo on Friday also issued an executive order temporarily suspending operations of all resorts and recreational parks and prohibiting the conduct of leisure activities in San Carlos City due to the surge in COVID-19 local transmissions.*