Coronavirus – infected fireman alive and recovering
TUGUEGARAO CITY — A fireman who contracted the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is alive and showing good signs of recovery, contrary to social media posts that he has perished, his attending physician said.
Dr. Glenn Mathew Baggao, director of the Cagayan Valley Medical Center chief, said the 44-year-old fireman, who has become Cagayan’s first COVID case, is being treated at the hospital’s isolation room.
The fireman is a native of Tuguegarao and is assigned at a Manila fire station. He returned home last March 10, 2020 via Florida Bus before Metro Manila was placed under enhanced community quarantine.
As soon as the fireman arrived here at 7 a.m. on March 11, he was immediately brought to the Divine Mercy Wellness Medical Center and was referred to the CVMC.
Tugeugarao City Mayor Jefferson Soriano said they have expanded the contact tracing process and has found the driver of the tricycle who ferried the patient.
“The good thing is (the tricycle driver) is stable and shows no symptoms and that he is a one-man household as his wife is working abroad,” the mayor said.
The patient’s mother, three children, brother and wife were also quarantined.
“The patient will recover. He has been a public servant for the past 20 years, having started out as a Sangguniang Kabataan chairman before he started a career as a fireman,” Soriano said.
The bus passenger beside the fireman’s seat no. 30 is being tracked, along with other passengers.
Due to this initial COVID case, a lockdown has been imposed in the city and the village officials had been ordered to distribute relief packs to poor and vulnerable families and individuals in the city, including tricycle drivers, persons with disability and senior citizens.
Dr. James Guzman, city health officer, warned people not to share fake and unverified news as the Law on Reporting of Communicable Diseases (Republic Act No. 11332) penalizes the unauthorized disclosure of private and confidential information of a patient’s medical condition.
INQ
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