ILIGAN CITY –– The Hall of Justice (HOJ) in Marawi City has been closed for four days for disinfection after a staff member at the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) confirmed that her husband had tested positive for COVID-19.
Executive Judge Wenida Papandayan said the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) in Marawi City ordered the public building closed for four days for intensive disinfection after the staff of PAO, one of the offices inside the building, reported the test result of her husband.
Marawi City Health Officer Dr. Ali Dalidig said the PAO staff’s husband is a 64-year old dialysis patient of the Amai Pakpak Medical Center (APMC), who was exposed to a COVID-19 patient at the hospital.
The results of his reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests came out on August 3, confirming him to be the 41st COVID-19 case in the city and prompting the IATF to recommend the Hall of Justice’s four-day closure beginning August 4.
“He (was exposed to) a patient who was a confirmed (COVID-19) case in Marawi City. This COVID-19 patient was admitted to the same hospital (as the PAO staff’s husband). (The husband) is (now) undergoing quarantine at the APMC isolation room,” Dalidig said.
The PAO staff, however, happened to interact with 13 of her colleagues, who all tested negative of antibodies in the rapid diagnostic tests administered to them, except for one who showed positive for immunoglobulin G (IgG).
The PAO staff and her six children, who had direct exposure with Marawi City’s patient 41, tested negative for antibodies.
Despite the physical closure of courts and other offices inside the HOJ building, employees continued to work from home, Papandayan said.
“We have emails and contact numbers. PAO lawyers are all under strict quarantine,” she said.
“Will anyone dare go near them to seek (legal) assistance? That would be a violation of the strict quarantine,” Papandayan said.