Friday, May 23, 2025

43 wedding party guests test positive for COVID

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BY NOEL TALACAY

TWELVE more individuals have tested positive of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) after recently attending a wedding reception in Quezon City, which is a violation of the community quarantine protocol against the holding of mass gatherings amid the pandemic.

Allan Franza, chairman of Barangay Old Balara, said the 12 brings to 43 the number of individuals who have become sick since attending the May 22 wedding celebration, which was held in a compound at Area 7 along Luzon Avenue.
Franza said some 300 guests attended the event.

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Franza said the compound was placed under a 14-day special concerned lockdown on May 26 after swab tests done on the guests initially yielded 31 positive results/

Symptomatic guests have been brought to a city quarantine facility, while those who do not have any symptoms have been ordered to do home quarantine.

The wedding reception is the fourth super-spreader event that have been reported so far.

The others are the Mother’s Day swimming celebration at the Gubat sa Ciudad in Caloocan City, the swimming-karaoke session at a resort also in Quezon City, and the Bulacan incident where 75 individuals were apprehended and issued violation tickets for mass gathering at a river.

President Duterte has ordered the police to monitor and prevent the holding of mass gatherings in the NCR Plus, which is under general community quarantine with heightened restrictions. He has likewise warned barangay leaders they would be arrested and charged if they fail to stop such super-spreader events from happening.

The NCR Plus covers Metro Manila and the provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said the joint DOJ-DILG guidelines on arresting health protocol violators amid the COVID-19 pandemic will include the criminal and administrative liability of local officials who fail to enforce the health guidelines, especially against super-spreader events in their jurisdiction.

The joint guidelines is expected to be released today.

“They (local officials) need to enforce the regulations in the health protocols because they have direct contact with their people. They are in the grassroots so they know what is happening in their area,” Guevarra told radio station DZBB on Sunday.

He said local officials who would fail to enforce the health protocols may be charged with criminal and administrative cases for negligence under the Local Government Code and dereliction of duty under the Revised Penal Code.

The DOJ chief said the joint guidelines will also clarify the role of law enforcers in the implementation of local ordinances against violators of health protocols to prevent public confusion.

Likewise, Guevarra said the joint guidelines proposes that violators be placed in an open-air holding area instead of detaining them in crowded police stations and jails to prevent transmission of the COVID-19 virus.

“It could be a sport gymnasium instead of bringing them to jail,” he said, adding that the holding area should have proper ventilation.

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año told the Joint Task Force COVID Shield to respond to all reports provided by barangay officials on ongoing super spreader events or mass gatherings.

“There is no reason for you not to respond immediately because that’s an ongoing super spread event,” Año said, adding: “I will hold accountable policemen if they do not respond to the call of the barangay captains seeking assistance or reinforcement.”

The growing number of individuals getting infected of the coronavirus after attending mass gatherings reinforces a survey conducted by the Social Weather Station from April 28 to May 2 showing that 79 percent of adult Filipinos believe that violators of health protocols are the real cause of the spread of COVID-19 in the country.

The survey, which was released over the weekend, also showed that one in 10, or 11 percent, says it’s the government’s lack of preparation, and about the same number or 10 percent says the new COVID-19 variants are the cause.

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The eight in 10 who blame violators of healthy protocols say the pandemic is spreading because people are not wearing masks, washing hands and maintaining physical distance, or a safe distance of 1 meter, when in public places.

When asked who is most responsible for stopping the pandemic, one in three or 33 percent point to themselves as responsible.

About the same number or 31 percent pointed to the national government, slightly more than one in 10 or 15 percent said it’s the community, 9 percent said the local government, 8 percent the family, and 4 percent pointed to health workers.

Those seeing themselves as most responsible for stopping the spread of the virus are highest in Luzon, followed by the Visayas and Metro Manila.

Those saying the national government is most responsible are highest in Mindanao followed by Luzon, the Visayas and Metro Manila.
On the other hand, individuals saying that new virus variants are the cause of the spread are highest in Mindanao, followed by the Visayas, Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon.

Those saying community members are most responsible are higher in Metro Manila than in the Visayas, Mindanao and the rest of Luzon.

The First Quarter 2021 Social Weather Survey was conducted using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults (18 years old and above) nationwide.

Meanwhile, the Department of Public Works and Highway (DPWH) said it will set up an additional isolation facility and off-site modular hospital in Zamboanga City to accommodate more patients infected with the virus.

“Although we see progress toward a transition to new normalcy especially with the vaccine rollout proving effective and rapidly bending the curve, however, COVID cases is still high in Zamboanga Peninsula with Zamboanga City still under stricter restriction of modified enhanced community quarantine,” DPWH Secretary and isolation czar Mark Villar said in a press statement.

Department of Health (DOH) records showed that as of May 29, Zamboanga City has recorded 10,576 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 990 active cases, 9,338 recoveries, and 248 deaths.

Villar said the DPWH will in June the building of a 22-bed modular hospital for moderate, severe to critical COVID patients inside the Mindanao Central Sanitarium (MCS) compound in Pasobolong, Zamboanga City.

The Zamboanga City Medical Center (ZCMC) will oversee the operation of the modular hospital, which will be attached to a 16-room dormitory for medical personnel to help improve healthcare workers’ ability to adequately monitor the health status of patients as well as help reduce the risk of transmission between exposed people and their households.

The DPWH is also looking into the possibility of converting the covered court and two small buildings of the Regional Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Center, located inside the Sanitarium Hospital, into a quarantine facility with 300 beds for COVID patients and a 30—bed dormitory for health workers.

DPWH is currently converting the Zamboanga Convention Center in Pasonanca in Zamboanga City into a 182-bed isolation facility that can accommodate mild and non-emergency COVID cases and help free up the hospital beds in Zamboanga City for more severe and critical patients. — With Ashzel Hachero, Paul Icama, Victor Reyes and Jocelyn Montemayor

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