Baguio cases now 25, after surge of 8 new COVID-19 infections

SOUND OF SILENCE. Policemen road virtually empty streets in Baguio City, which is riding out an extended quarantine to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease. Vincent Cabreza

Updated as of 6:25 pm, April 25, 2020

BAGUIO CITY –– The summer capital’s cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infections shot up to 25 on Saturday (April 25) after eight people, including a newborn baby,  caught the virus.

No details have been released to explain how the virus was contracted by the 8-day-old child who is under the care of the Pines City Hospital.

Four of the new patients are health workers — two doctors, a nurse, and an administrative staff member — who have been caring for infected patients at the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center.

Herwin Siong, a 34-year-old nurse, and Paola Ortiz, an encoder of BGHMC’s outpatient unit, have gone public to alert family and friends about their conditions, said Mayor Benjamin Magalong.

Two returning migrant workers from the United States, who were quarantined at the Teachers Camp upon arrival, and an employee of the Baguio Country Club, have also been infected.

The City Health Services Office said 12 of the confirmed COVID-19 cases have recovered and been sent home.

CIRCLE MARKS SPOT. Baguio residents, on food supply runs, are able to keep their Distance while in line by stepping on these road discs painted by the Baguio City Police Office on Saturday (April 25). EV Espiritu

It said 18 people who tested positive after undergoing rapid tests were classified as “probable” cases, while 194 people, classified as “suspects,” are undergoing home quarantine or have been admitted at local hospitals.

The BGHMC medical workers are stable and have been confined along with another nurse, who was initially listed as a “probable infection” case at the start of the week.

Barangays Santo Tomas Proper, BGH compound, and San Luis, and section 5 of Barangay Dominican, as well as Woodgate Subdivision along Kennon Road, have been placed under a total lockdown for contact-tracing and testing to proceed unhampered.

Since the start of April, the city had shut down its borders, allowing only food and cargo trucks through checkpoints, and workers living in outskirt towns of Benguet.

The local government set up isolation zones for overseas Filipino workers, who were allowed to fly back home to the country. Nineteen people are under quarantine at the Teachers Camp.

Aside from the Teachers Camp, the city may convert a high school as a back-up quarantine site, said City Administrator Bonifacio dela Peña during a meeting Friday (April 24) at the City Hall.

Responding to queries about Baguio residents in other provinces who wish to come home, Magalong said they may need to wait so as not to tax the city’s health resources.

The police securing downtown Baguio during the extended quarantine have been provided personal protective equipment made of microfiber taffeta from donors, said Police Col. Allen Rae Co, city police director.

LZB