Nurse’s infection prompts temporary closure of Catarman health office
CATARMAN, Northern Samar—The municipal health office here on Friday (Aug. 14) closed its doors to the public to disinfect offices after one of its nurses tested positive for the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
The 54-year-old nurse showed no symptoms, according to Myrna Trongcoso, municipal health officer and incident commander of the Municipal Inter Agency Task Force.
The nurse, she said, could have contracted the virus from a COVID-19 patient who was on quarantine and whom the nurse had been monitoring.
Contact tracing is ongoing to identify persons who have had encounters with the nurse.
“The nurse met a number of health workers. All of them shall be isolated and swabbed,” Trongcoso said, referring to the process of taking respiratory samples for testing.
The provincial health office will assume the functions of the Catarman health office, including monitoring of quarantine facilities and issuance of medical certificates to travellers.
Article continues after this advertisementOn Thursday (Aug. 13), the Department of Health in Eastern Visayas listed a total of 43 new COVID-19 cases in the region. Five of those were in Catarman.
Aside from the nurse, three stranded individuals and a truck driver were listed as COVID-19 patients in the town.
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