THE Philippine Consulate General in New York temporarily suspended its consular services starting yesterday after several of its personnel tested positive for the deadly COVID-19 virus.
Consul General Elmer Cato said also suspended was the consular outreach mission scheduled this Saturday, April 23, in Bergenfield, New Jersey.
“The reason for this is that a number of us tested positive today for a very aggressive strain of COVID-19,” Cato said, adding those who tested negative are monitoring themselves since they were also exposed to those who tested positive while doing election duty in the past several days.
“Some have been told to isolate after exhibiting symptoms,” Cato said.
In a separate advisory, the consulate said normal operations are set to resume on Monday, April 25.
Among those who had to isolate after being exposed were two drivers employed by the consulate who have been delivering ballots to the post office for the overseas absentee voting.
Cato said they have been working overtime for the past eight days to ensure that ballots that arrived in New York last Monday would reach registered Filipino voters as soon as possible.
“Our colleagues have not had enough sleep and rest for the past week. This has made them easy targets for the virus,” he added.
Cato, however, assured the Filipino community in New York that the mailing and delivery of ballots would continue.
“Even if many of us here at the Philippine Consulate General in New York have been sidelined by COVID, those left standing among us continue to perform their duties, including preparing and mailing election packets containing ballots for registered overseas voters in the United States Northeast,” he said, adding that Deputy Consul General Arman Talbo even drove to the post office to deliver ballots in lieu of the two isolated drivers.
A total of 1,697,215 overseas Filipinos are registered to vote in the May 9 elections as absentee voters, including 198,935 in the United States.
The Consulate also advised Filipinos who visited the consulate last April 18-19 to monitor themselves or get tested for the virus.
Meanwhile, 10 Filipinos are currently quarantined in Shanghai after contracting the COVID-19 virus amid the surge of similar cases in the city.
Consul General Josel Ignacio said the 10 have reached out to the consulate, adding that his office is taking care of their needs while on quarantine.
Ignacio said the consulate will provide the 10 Filipinos in quarantine with vouchers, good as cash, that they can use to purchase food online and have it delivered to them.
