No classes in Marikina, Navotas, San Juan over virus

DISINFECTION ONGOING Greenhills Shopping Center in San Juan is sprayed with a disinfectant, both inside and out, after one of the three newest confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country is reported to have frequented a prayer hall inside the establishment. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Classes in all levels in both public and private schools have been called off today in the cities of San Juan, Marikina and Navotas as a precaution against the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) after the number of confirmed cases in the country rose to six.

Marikina Mayor Marcelino Teodoro, however, said on Sunday that there would also be no classes from Tuesday to Wednesday “to give way to a large-scale disinfection of all schools” in the city.

“If possible, stay inside your homes and avoid unnecessary visits to public places and areas with large crowds,” he added.

Aside from the blanket suspension of classes in the city, Navotas Mayor Toby Tiangco also urged the Department of Education on Saturday to cancel the rest of the school term and automatically pass all students to prevent putting them at greater risk of COVID-19.

While his proposal did not sit well with some netizens who said it would benefit only failing students, Tiangco remained firm.

“Let’s look at the numbers. How many students are failing who will be given a passing grade? Not that many. But if there is one student who has the virus, how many do you put at risk?” he said in a text to the Inquirer on Sunday.

“Do we wait for one student to have the virus and cancel after other students get exposed…? Preventive measures must be done. Health is paramount,” he added.

San Juan Mayor Francis Zamora said the one-day closure of schools in the city would allow school officials to “sanitize and disinfect their campuses” and implement measures to stop the virus from infecting more people.

Ground zero

San Juan emerged as ground zero in the fight against COVID-19 after a couple from Cainta, Rizal province—two of the three newest confirmed cases announced last week by the Department of Health (DOH),—were said to have frequented the city.

According to the DOH, the couple regularly visited a prayer hall located at Greenhills Mall, prompting its owner, Ortigas Land, to announce that sanitation measures were being implemented under the supervision of professional sanitation experts.

Other steps being taken were the conduct of mandatory temperature checks at mall entrances while hand sanitizers and soap were provided for patrons at both entrances and restrooms, it said in a statement.

“In addition, a help desk manned by medical personnel who have been briefed on the protocols by the [DOH] has been established at the Connecticut Parking Building for shoppers, tenants and employees who may need medical assistance,” Ortigas Land added.

On Friday, Zamora ordered that the prayer room be sanitized and disinfected along with the “entire mall vicinity,” which the Greenhills management complied with.

Guio Martinez, a representative for the Greenhills Shopping Center management, told the Inquirer that cleaning and sanitation of the commercial complex would be conducted nightly. The prayer room — initially shut down after news of the confirmed case was released on Friday — was reopened at 6 p.m. on Saturday “following guidelines from the DOH and the San Juan City” government, Martinez said.

At Bonifacio Global City (BGC) in Taguig where one of the three new confirmed COVID-19 cases worked for Deloitte Philippines, it was business as usual on Sunday although the area was less crowded and the stores mostly empty. A milk tea store was the exception although compared to previous Sundays, there were fewer customers, Tiger Sugar’s manager Pinky Hon said.

Smaller crowd

“Weekends are usually family days. However, there’s really a decrease in terms of bypassers. Central Square was usually crowded. It’s different now,” she told the Inquirer.

Jericho, a barista at a popular Chinese restaurant, said that although there was a reason to be scared, there was no excuse for life and work not to go on. “We can’t do anything about it. We are all working. What we do here is we wear masks; some of us use mouth guards to prevent possible transmission,” he said.

He recalled one incident in which one of their customers refused to eat the food served because one of the staff had no mask.

“She talked to our manager, asked for a refund and asked why we were not wearing masks,” Jericho said.

Michael Tapallo, a janitor, said that there were fewer visitors based on the number of people using toilets.

“BGC used to be crowded. Now, it feels like Holy Week. Today is supposedly a family day,” he added.—With reports from Dexter Cabalza and Jodee Agoncillo