THIRTEEN Mandaue City Fire Station (MCFS) officers have been added to the list of uniformed personnel in Cebu who have contracted the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
The result came a week after their fellow MCFS officer succumbed to Covid-19 on Sunday, July 5, 2020.
Uniformed personnel and members of medical teams are prone to getting the Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, as they are on the frontlines—involved in monitoring villages with Covid-19 cases and transporting Covid-19 patients to hospitals or isolation centers.
MCFS personnel
The 13 MCFS officers who got infected with Covid-19 are direct contacts of the fire officer who died because of Covid-19 in a hospital in Lapu-Lapu City last July 5.
The MCFS has been placed on lockdown since July 6; 49 officers have been not allowed to go outside the fire station and no outsiders can get in. The officers were then swabbed and all yielded negative results except for the 13 officers, who are now isolated in Cubacub Elementary School, MCFS spokesperson FO1 Reil Demura said.
The remaining 36 fire officers inside the MCFS have yet to complete the 14-day mandatory quarantine, which will end on July 19. They will be swabbed again by the City Health Office to confirm if they are really free of Sars-CoV-2.
Demura assured the Mandaue City residents that there are sub-stations ready to respond to any fire incident. He thanked fellow firefighters for donating food and vitamins.
Police recoveries
At the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7, senior officials heaved a sigh of relief after 64 police officers recovered from Covid-19.
They had been quarantined in an isolation center tucked in a mountain village in Cebu City for a month before they were released on Monday, July 13, 2020 by their superiors led by PRO 7 Director Brig. Gen. Albert Ignatius Ferro.
Ferro said he will ask the survivors to join contact tracing teams as they are familiar with the Covid-19 symptoms, which include dry cough, fever and shortness of breath.
Four police officers from the Cebu City Police Office, which is under the PRO 7, succumbed to Covid-19.
Ferro’s move
Ferro urged the 64 police officers to donate their blood plasma to Covid-19 patients. Plasma is the liquid portion of the blood and convalescent plasma can help boost the immune system of a critically ill or a severely impaired person admitted because of Covid-19. However, there is no proof yet if this can cure a Covid-19 patient.
One of the Covid-19 survivors is P/ Lt. Col. Allan Rosario, operations chief of the CCPO. He said all he could think about was his family after he tested positive and isolated in Cebu City Resource Management and Development Center in Barangay Taptap.
He urged the public to follow the health protocol such as wearing of masks and social distancing in public.
“We need to follow the guidelines to stop this virus from spreading and to avoid from being infected. Right now, I am overwhelmed that I was able to recover,” Rosario said.
Talisay City
Two rescue team members and a jail officer in Talisay City, Cebu turned out positive in the rapid antibody test. This could mean they have been infected with a virus but not necessarily Sars-CoV-2.
Two are members of the Talisay City Rescue Assistance Team (Treat), while the jail officer is assigned in the Talisay City Jail.
The Treat members have been placed in an isolation facility, while their relatives were also tested.
As for the jail officer, he was among the 30 jail officers who underwent rapid testing. The jail officer is now isolated even if he has not shown Covid-19 symptoms. (KFD, AYB / MMC & BBT / KAL)