FORTY-NINE of the 74 new Covid-19 cases in Cebu City reported by the Department of Health 7 on Monday, June 14, 2021, are construction workers employed to complete a building in Barangay Lahug.
City Councilor Joel Garganera, deputy chief implementer of the Emergency Operations Center (EOC), said the construction workers were transferred to the barangay isolation center on Monday evening.
The transfer of the construction workers took four hours, which Garganera described as “pretty fast” because the construction firm was easy to work with.
The construction workers are all close contacts and asymptomatic, Garganera said.
Based on the EOC data, the Covid-19 cases have been increasing in the past six days.
According to Garganera, the construction workers tested positive for Covid-19 after they took the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test. Taking the RT-PCR test is one of the mandatory protocols for the construction company, and it’s also a must in the workers’ travel, medical and back-to-work requirements.
Authorities cannot ascertain yet the person who infected the construction workers.
“The places we go to every day and the people we bump into each day might possibly be carrying our enemy,” Garganera said.
The construction workers, he said, admitted that they became lenient in protecting themselves, thinking they would not contract the novel coronavirus.
“They failed to practice the minimum health standards both in public and private areas,” he said.