Carcar City to shut off ACs to fight spread of coronavirus

Carcar City is imposing a “no aircon policy” in all government offices as a measure against the possibe spread of the dreaded 2019-nCoV. | Screengrab from the Facebook page of LGU Carcar

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The city government of Carcar in southern Cebu has taken the cue from the Capitol in shutting off their air conditioning units as a measure against the possible spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).

Carcar City, in its Facebook page, announced Saturday night, February 8, 2020, that the “entire City Hall will not be using air conditioners (ACs) for the whole day.”

If there is a need to switch on their air conditioning units, they will only do so for two hours each day.

“As a precautionary from NCOV, the entire City Hall will not be using air conditioners for the whole day, it can only be used 2 hours per day,” the LGU Carcar post reads.

The city will be imposing the policy “until (the) NCOV is no longer a threat.”

Read: Capitol opens windows, turns off ACs to save in electricity bills, fight nCOV

In a meeting at the Capitol on Feb. 6, Governor Gwendolyn Garcia told the mayors, who were in attendance, that one measure that the provincial government is taking against the possible spread of the 2019-nCoV here is the shutting off of their ACs  and opening their office windows to let the natural wind in.

Capitol offices will only be allowed to use their  air conditioning units for four hours per day, depending on the time that their office is mostly exposed to the sun.

Garcia explained to the mayors that the 2019-nCoV does not thrive on high temperatures or those that are beyond 50 degrees Fahrenheit and thus turning off their air conditioning units will allow less probability that the virus will spread in government offices.

Aside from being a precaution against the 2019-nCoV, the Capitol also hopes to trim down its average monthly electricity bill of P1.7 million with the implementation of the no aircon policy. / dcb