Quezon town hall to stay open even as employee contracts COVID-19

LUCENA CITY –– There is no need to close the town hall even after a 44-year old female employee of the municipal government of General Luna in Quezon province contracted the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the mayor said Friday.

Mayor Matt Florido said services at the municipal hall would continue since the patient last held office on Jan. 11.

The patient was found positive for COVID-19 after taking the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) laboratory test on Thursday, the mayor said.

“She has no close contacts (at the municipal hall),” Florido said by phone on Friday, Jan. 22.

The virus carrier had mild symptoms and shortness of breath and would be confined in a hospital in Lucena City, the mayor revealed.

Aggressive contact tracing is still ongoing to prevent the spread of the virus in the locality, he added.

The patient is the 39th validated COVID-19 case in the town, which is located at the coast of Tayabas Bay in the province’s Bondoc Peninsula district.

Last November, the General Luna administration closed the town hall for several days after an employee and three local government health care workers contracted COVID-19.

General Luna logged a total of 39 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic was declared in March last year, but 35 of them have recovered.

Two COVID-19 patients died, and two others, including the most recent case, remain active.

As of 5 p.m. of Jan. 21, Quezon, which is under modified general community quarantine status, recorded a total of 6,717 COVID-19 cases with 6,111 recoveries.

The province has 394 active virus carriers.

The COVID-19 death toll in the province stands at 212.

LZB