Silliman U says health of 24 Chinese students on a visit monitored constantly

DUMAGUETE CITY–Silliman University (SU), this city’s premiere educational institution, has assured the public that it was constantly monitoring the health of 24 Chinese students who arrived on Jan. 18.

Dr. Earl Jude Cleope, vice president for academic affairs, said the Chinese students are all not from Wuhan and will be in Dumaguete for six weeks as part of the Chinese Executive Course.

Cleope said the students had their laboratory examinations and X-ray taken one day after their arrival and they also went to the Bureau of Quarantine in Cebu for check-up last Jan. 28.

Upon their return from Cebu, they also had another check-up at the Marina Clinic in Dauin, some 17 kilometers south of Dumaguete.

Cleope said there was no need to quarantine the students for 14 days according to a protocol of the Department of Health, because they arrived before the protocol was announced and were also

examined already by the Bureau of Quarantine.

SU President Dr. Betty Cernol-McCann said while the students were not exhibiting any symptoms of novel coronavirus (nCoV), they will still be subjected to weekly tests.

A hotel and restaurant operator in the city, which also caters to Chinese guests, said there were no longer any Chinese guests in the hotel and those who had booked rooms had cancelled their booking. Others had checked out already with some ahead of their scheduled departure.

Chef Gabby del Prado, also vice president of the Negros Oriental Hotels, Restaurants and Resorts Association,  said workers were constantly disinfecting doorknobs and hallways in hotels and restaurants in the city.

But he expressed lament at what he said the discrimination being displayed by Filipinos toward Chinese-looking customers.

He said that when Chinese guests dine in, Filipino customers walk out or change tables.

“It’s very discriminatory but we cannot help it,” he said.

Edited by TSB