Dr. Villa to Labella: Don’t isolate Sitio Zapatera’s asymptomatic COVID-19 cases in Barrio Luz school

Police conduct a foot patrol in Sitio Zapatera, Barangay Luz in Cebu City on April 12, 2020 to ensure that lockdown rules are being followed. For Dr. Daisy Villa, City Health Officer, she appeals to the mayor not to use the public high school of the barangay to isolate asymptomatic COVID-19 patients of Sitio Zapatera.  | CCPO photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — “Do not isolate the asymptomatic patients of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) of Sitio Zapatera, Barangay Luz at the Barrio Luz National High School.”

This is the appeal of Dr. Daisy Villa, Cebu City Health Office chief, to Mayor Edgardo Labella.

“The school is not ready, we are risking the spread of infection outside the already infected sitio,” said Villa.

The doctor said that isolation of the infected cases in Sitio Zapatera would no longer be necessary because the entire sitio had been considered as infected.

Read more: Barrio Luz National High School to host asymptomatic COVID-19 patients

With this, only those symptomatic should be brought to a medical center for treatment, while the rest of the sitio will be placed under strict quarantine.

The mass swab testing has also been stopped for Sitio Zapatera as the number of cases already represents a widespread infection in the area. She said that 52 out of the 53 patients are asymptomatic.

Read more: Sitio Zapatera in Brgy Luz has 24 new COVID-19 cases

“Dili na lang nato na sila ipull-out. Quarantine na lang gyod sa tibuok sitio, bantayan nga dili na sila manggawas. (Let us not pull them out. The sitio has to be placed under quarantine so no one can go out),” said Villa.

Read more: DOH-7 confirms community transmission in Sitio Zapatera as COVID-19 cases in CV near 100-mark

If the patients are transferred to the school, the schools may not be ready to house them and the virus could simply spread in the vicinity.

Staying put in the sitio, unless the patients show symptoms, would be the most practical thing to do. Only the twin 9-month-old babies will be brought to the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) for isolation as they are vulnerable to the disease.

However, this is not the same case for the positive asymptomatic case in Barangays Guadalupe and Labangon as Villa said they were individuals and their sitios who had not been as widely infected as that of Sitio Zapatera.

The two individuals must be isolated from the community as they are the only ones infected in their areas as of now.

The two individuals are currently being isolated from their immediate community with one of them at the Cebu City Medical Center.

For the mass testing, Villa said they would try to get samples in Sitio Cabantan in Barrio Luz, which was the most immediate neighboring sitio to Sitio Zapatera to check if the virus had reached the area. /dbs