Bohol mall cries foul over fake news an employee who died tested positive for coronavirus

TAGBILARAN CITY—A mall in Bohol cried foul over what it said were false reports that there had already been test results showing that one of its employees, who died on July 6, had been infected with SARS Cov2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

The Island City Mall (ICM), of the Alturas Group of Companies, in a statement on Friday (July 10) said the employee was assigned to its Information Technology Department. Prior to his death, “the employee has not been reporting for work for more than a week,” the statement said.

To heed health protocol, the company said respiratory samples had been collected from the deceased employee for submission to tests. It said, however, that the test results have not yet been available contrary to fake news on social media saying the employee was positive for coronavirus.

The company said it took “proactive measures to ensure the health and safety of our customers and employees” and locked down the work area of the deceased employee for disinfection following his death.

The deceased employees’ nine co-workers, who had direct exposure to him, are already on quarantine in a government facility in this city starting on July 6.

ICM urged the public not to spread unverified information and cause alarm.

“During these times, we encourage everybody to only rely on official sources of information regarding the situation of the pandemic,” ICM said.

“The spread of false information about COVID-19 is not helpful to our community, ” it said.

The mall added that since the start of the pandemic, its management had been continuously sanitizing and disinfecting stores “in order to protect you, our valued customers and our employees as well.”

TSB