Only 10 teachers in Ilagan, Isabela tested positive for COVID-19

MANILA, Philippines — Ten teachers from a secondary school in Ilagan City, Isabela tested positive for coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the Department of Education said Thursday.

In a statement, Estela Cariño, director of DepEd in Cagayan Valley, made the clarification following earlier reports that there were 11 teachers infected.

“Contrary to the report that eleven teachers in the city tested positive on COVID-19, 10 teachers in a secondary school in the city underwent a swab test and all tested positive,” Cariño said. She said that all the infected teachers are asymptomatic and confined in quarantine facilities.

“The Schools Division Office of the City of Ilagan further clarifies that such unfortunate event has nothing to do whatsoever with the distribution of self-learning modules or any materials to that effect,” she added.

The DepEd official explained that the localized Basic Education Learning Continuity Plan of the division office clearly states that the modules should be deposited by the schools at drop-off points at barangay halls.

Barangay officials then distributed the modules, according to Cariño.

Information from DepEd Region II showed that nine teachers contracted the virus from one of the teachers who first tested negative in a rapid test but later tested positive for COVID-19 in a swab test.

It added that all the teachers belong to the same school.

In an earlier interview with ABS-CBN’s Teleradyo, Isabela Gov. Rodito Albano III said that the teachers tested positive for COVID-19 after holding a meeting without knowing that one of them is infected but asymptomatic.

Albano earlier issued an executive order imposing a modified enhanced community quarantine in Iligan City from October 6 to 16 due to a spike in the number of COVID-19 cases in the city.

EDV