Talisay City Hall closed for disinfection on July 14-17

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Stringent disinfection and contact tracing will be conducted in Talisay City Hall starting next week after one of its employees succumbed to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

The Talisay City Hall will be closed from the public starting Tuesday, July 14 until Friday, July 17, 2020, to give way for the disinfection and contact tracing measures that would be conducted in the entire City Hall compound.

Talisay City Mayor Gerald Anthony “Samsam” Gullas Jr., on Friday, July 10, said that the city’s assistant budget officer, Nona Narca, passed away due to COVID-19 on July 9.

“It saddens me to think that one of our most trusted employees here at City Hall has succumbed to this deadly disease. Despite our work in ensuring that our constituents are taken care of in this pandemic, it saddens me that some of our own personnel would become casualties,” Gullas wrote in a post.

“She has been a hardworking employee here at City Hall and she will be missed terribly. Ma’am Nona, thank you for your valuable service and dedication,” the mayor added.

In an update, Gullas said they would continue their contact tracing effort within the period that the City Hall offices will be closed although the late assistant budget officer’s earlier identified close contacts had been isolated since June 24.

“After what happened to Ma’am Nona we are currently contact-tracing our personnel in the city hall. While all contacts of ma’am Nona have already been isolated since June 24, we will continue our contact tracing,” Gullas said.

He added that other city personnel had also been swabbed for COVID-19 testing after experiencing influenza-like illness (ILI) symptoms.

“While some have come out positive they had already been isolated and had not gone to work since the first days of ILI symptoms. They are recovering as of the moment,” the mayor said.

“We will also be implementing stricter infection control protocols, to protect our employees and to protect the public who will be doing business at city hall,” he added.

While the city hall would be closed for three days, Gullas said the Office of the Mayor would remain open during those dates as the city’s Command Center is located in the office.

Talisay City, which borders Cebu province and Cebu City in the south, remains to have the highest count of the coronavirus disease cases in the province.

According to the Department of Health’s COVID-19 data as of July 10, the city has over 500 confirmed cases. The city has reported at least 169 recovered cases and 51 deaths./dbs