PAGADIAN CITY — As the province confronts a dengue outbreak, Zamboanga Sibugay Governor Wilter Palma on Monday ordered teachers and students in all levels of all public and private schools in the province to wear long pants, long-sleeved shirts or blouses, leggings, and long socks during school days and school-sponsored activities.
Palma, in an executive order released July 29, noted said that requiring students to wear protective clothes has become a must especially since the majority of dengue patients in the province are children.
Until further notice, the governor also suspended the wearing of the prescribed school uniforms in all schools and at all levels in the province.
As of July 29, the death toll from dengue since January has reached 15 – eight of whom were children, while the total number of dengue cases from January to July this year has reached 3,566, according to Dennis Baguio, executive assistant to the governor.
In January to July last year, Zamboanga Sibugay recorded only 150 dengue cases, records from the Provincial Health Office (PHO) showed.
On July 16, the Zamboanga Sibugay Sangguniang Panlalawigan placed the province under a state of calamity to allow the provincial government to use its quick response fund to address the dengue outbreak.
The provincial board’s declaration was based on the recommendation of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (PDRRMO) and the PHO that earlier reported the “abnormal” increase in dengue cases in Zamboanga Sibugay since January this year.