Iloilo town used classrooms to isolate residents under monitoring for COVID-19

ILOILO CITY –– The town of Concepcion in Iloilo has successfully quarantined all its residents being monitored for COVID-19 by using classrooms as isolation rooms.

Mayor Raul Banias said all the 227 persons under monitoring (PUMs) in their town have completed the mandatory 14-day quarantine as of April 4.

PUMs are those not exhibiting symptoms of the disease but have traveled to areas with infected persons or were exposed to an infected person.

The PUMs in Concepcion were isolated in classrooms in schools in the town, 98 kilometers northeast of Iloilo City.

“We are a small town and many residents live in small houses. How can you effectively isolate them if they undergo home quarantine?” Banias, a physician, told the INQUIRER.

The town has 25 villages, including 14 on the mainland, and 11 island-barangays.

The PUMs stayed for 14 days each, occupying a classroom with individual toilets. Cooked meals prepared by their families were delivered by members of the Barangay Health Emergency Response Team.

Those quarantined were not allowed to leave the classrooms and none of them exhibited symptoms of the disease during their quarantine.

Banias said the families of those quarantined were given two weeks’ supply of rice and canned food by the municipal government and the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

LZB