95 occupants, staffers of Bulacan juvenile center recover from COVID-19

Bulacan juvenile facility Tanglaw Pag-asa resumes office on Saturday, a month after a hard lockdown as 95 residents, staff and guards tested positive for COVID 19. (Photo by Carmela Reyes-Estrope)

CITY OF MALOLOS – All the 95 occupants and workers of a Bulacan juvenile facility, who were stricken with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in March, have now recovered, officials said on Saturday (April 24).

Operations of the Tanglaw Pag-asa, a facility for Children In Conflict with the Law (CICL), have resumed after its 80 residents (aged between 16-26 years old), nine social workers, and six jail guards were given a clean bill of health, said Dr. Hjordis Marushka Celis, director of the Bulacan Medical Center.

Celis heads the Response Cluster of COVID 19 Provincial Task Force and co-chair of the Vaccination Operation Center of Bulacan.

Tanglaw office operations were shut down after its first patient contracted the virus on March 26, according to Tanglaw manager Jay Mark Chico.

Celis said Tanglaw’s young patients displayed mild symptoms such as fever while the guards and members of the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO) were asymptomatic.

The outbreak originated from a social worker PSWDO staffer who attended a birthday party in early March.

The PSWDO employee infected a Tanglaw resident, who attended a court hearing, helping spread the disease inside the facility. CARMELA REYES-ESTROPE INQ

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