LGU employees, health workers among 16 new COVID-19 patients in Lucena

LUCENA CITY –– At least three of the latest 16 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients in this city are local government employees, Lucena Mayor Roderick Alcala, disclosed Saturday.

“They are all field workers. We’ve been aggressively conducting contact tracing at the city hall to prevent the spread of the virus,” Alcala said in a phone interview.

Of the latest local COVID-19 patients, at least two are health and medical workers, Alcala also revealed. He did not provide additional details about the patients.

Those found having contacts with the infected field workers, and the rest of the local COVID-19 patients were immediately isolated in city government-run facilities for 21 days of quarantine.

Alcala said the city hall would resume its normal operation on Monday. “All local officials, department heads, and employees will return to the office,” he said.

According to the mayor, most of the new virus carriers showed no prevalent symptoms when tested.

“Because of their good health conditions, we’re confident that they can all beat the virus,” he said.

Lucena has recorded a total of 46 COVID-19 cases, the largest list of validated virus carriers in the province since the pandemic broke out. This came 16 days after the authorities announced the recovery of all its 29 COVID-19 patients on May 22.

But at least 31 of the 46 patients have recovered, the city health office reported Friday, bringing the number of active virus carriers to 15.

Local health authorities still keep watch to over 137 individuals classified as “suspects” coronavirus carriers and eight “probable” patients on its list.

The city has no recorded COVID-19 related deaths.

LZB