Dominguez met over 50 officials, staff after interaction with COVID-19 infected exec

MANILA, Philippines — A high-level meeting led by Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez that discussed the economic impact of COVID-19 seemed to have taken an unexpected turn as its participants might have been exposed to the novel coronavirus.

This as Dominguez appeared to have had face-to-face interactions with an infected government official prior to the meeting.

A highly placed source told the Inquirer that a high-ranking transport official who attended the inspection of a segment of the North Luzon Expressway on March 5 and the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board’s Investment Coordination Committee-Cabinet Committee meeting on March 6 tested positive on March 11, Wednesday, for the novel coronavirus or SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19.

Out of respect for the privacy of the patient and pending official confirmation from the Department of Health (DOH), the Inquirer is not disclosing the identity of the official.

But on both occasions, Dominguez was in close contact and even shook hands with the infected government exec, sources said.

Dominguez then led the high-level economic development cluster (EDC) meeting to discuss the impacts of the coronavirus to the economy on March 10, Tuesday, according to another source. 

Attendees of the EDC meeting, which also discussed recent issues surrounding the Philippine offshore gaming industry, include Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, Science Secretary Fortunato dela Peña, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia, and Labor Undersecretary Dominique Tutay, the source said.

Also, less than 50 officials and staff from the departments of health, tourism, finance, trade and industry, labor and employment, the National Economic Development Authority, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Bureau of Internal Revenue and Presidential Communications and Operations Office attended that meeting.

Following his exposure, Dominguez opted to put himself on self-quarantine. Similarly, Transport Secretary Arthur Tugade, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, Public Works Secretary Mark Villar, and Bases Conversion and Development Authority chair Vince Dizon announced one after the other on Wednesday night that they would go on self-quarantine for having had close contact with the infected official.

As of this writing, however, it was unclear how many of the attendees in the NLEx inspection and NEDA and EDC meetings have opted to isolate themselves for 14 days.

While not directly addressing that one of its officials has been found positive for the virus, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) said in a statement that it has “started the temporary shutdown of some of its offices and agencies for cleaning and disinfection.”

“At the DOTr main office in Clark, Pampanga, similar preventive measures are also now being implemented to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and secure the safety and health of its personnel. Thermal scanning for body temperature is now being done. In addition, DOTr personnel who may exhibit flu-like symptoms are also being sent home,” it said.

Based on DOH’s guidelines, testing for COVID-19 would only be done for persons who have either traveled recently to any of the 109 countries hit by SARS-CoV-2 or have had close contact with any individual infected with the coronavirus disease.

DOH defines close contacts as those health care workers who attended to COVID-19 patients, or those who have stayed in the same close environment or who have traveled in close proximity (a meter or less) with a confirmed case within the last 14 days.

Absent these conditions, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said those suffering from any respiratory ailment should just subject themselves to home quarantine and monitor their condition.

“You don’t have to worry because your risk [of contracting the virus] is low. What you should do is to monitor your symptoms at home. If it progresses, consult a doctor,” Vergeire said.

DOH nevertheless urged those who might have been exposed to a confirmed COVID-19 case and might be experiencing fever or other respiratory symptoms to contact its hotline, (02) 8651-7800 local 1149-1150, so that they may be properly assisted.

As of this posting, there are 49 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country. One of the confirmed cases, a 67-year-old Filipino woman, died Wednesday night. She is the first Filipino fatality from SARS-CoV-2 but second death in the country related to the coronavirus disease since the first fatality was a Chinese tourist from Wuhan.

The novel coronavirus, which first emerged in China’s city of Wuhan in Hubei province in late 2019, has been named SARS-CoV-2 by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. The virus leads to COVID-19, a respiratory disease.

For most people, the virus causes mild symptoms like fever and cough but can cause serious illness such as pneumonia for others, especially older adults and people with existing health conditions.

Coronavirus is a family of viruses, which surfaces have a crown-like appearance. The viruses are named for the spikes on their surfaces.

KGA