DAVAO City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio announced that the City Tourism Operations Office (CTOO) will investigate the wedding party that breached the Covid-19 health protocols, resulting in the city initiating a contact tracing effort, after one of the guests tested positive for coronavirus.
Duterte-Carpio said in a radio interview on Friday, August 28, that CTOO had a meeting with the organizers days after the incident.
"Dunay meeting with the organizers na ihatag nila ang list for contact tracing. And napasa na sa contact tracing team (The city met with the organizers, where they were told to provide the list of those who attended the event. The list was also immediately passed to the contact tracing team)," the mayor said in a radio interview via 87.5 FM Davao City Disaster Radio.
The city learned about the wedding event based on the patient's medical history. The city immediately conducted a contact tracing right after.
The mayor said the CTOO is tasked to investigate the incident since events management is under their jurisdiction. She added the City Legal Office already forwarded their recommendation to the Tourism office for measures and other actions to be taken regarding the incident.
Duterte-Carpio disclosed on Tuesday, August 25, that 40 individuals who attended the wedding party are currently being contact-traced.
She said the wedding party involved a prominent family whose name she did not disclose. She chided the family for holding the event even amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Based on the city's initial investigation, the family still pushed through with the event despite the organizer's warning.
Meanwhile, the mayor emphasized that such extravagant celebrations are highly discouraged while the city is still under a state of Covid-19 pandemic.
This was emphasized in her Executive Order (EO) 25, released early April this year, declaring April 17 to December 31, 2020, a period of mourning and vigilance, as the global deaths due to the highly infectious Covid-19 continue to rise.
Days after the incident, the Department of Health (DOH)-Davao Region, in its August 27 data, recorded 57 new Covid-19 cases in the city.
Netizens speculated that among the 57 were those who attended the party.
However, the mayor, when asked by SunStar Davao, cannot confirm nor deny if the among the new cases are those who attended the wedding because she does not receive any information on the patient's case profile.
She said she only received recommendations on the control measures needed to be done within communities from the contact tracing team and the city's medical experts.
Duterte-Carpio also said no one from the prominent family or anyone involved in the wedding reached out to her.