CEBU CITY, Philippines — Talisay City Mayor Gerald Anthony “Samsam” Gullas appeals to the Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7) to release the result of their first set of swab samples.
On his Facebook page, Gullas expressed his dismay that the 48 swab samples submitted to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Center (VSMMC) from Talisay’s Patient No. 2 (PT2) and close contacts have not yet returned after seven days.
“I know sad gyud na daghan kaau ang backlog sa Sotto. But hangyo lang gyud unta ko. It’s been 7 days since our swabs and we don’t have a result yet,” said the mayor.
(I know there is a lot of backlog in Sotto. But I appeal, it’s been seven days since our swabs and we don’t have a result yet.)
Gullas said the results were overtaken by identification of Patient No. 3 and recently, Patient No. 4.
Contact tracing, isolation, and swab samples have already been collected for PT3, while similar actions will be done for PT4 today, May 8, 2020.
Gullas apologized to the residents from Sitio Dawis and Kimba as he cannot decide on their fate until the results of PT2’s contact tracing returns.
“The city cannot make decisions without the results. I cannot implement new policies and decide if I don’t have the proper data at hand. I cannot decide without the proper justifications,” he said.
The mayor hopes that the results will be returned soon so the city can have a basis for its subsequent decisions. /rcg