Sorsogon gov: If new COVID-19 cases are discovered, it means we did tracing right

LEGAZPI CITY –– Sorsogon Gov. Francis “Chiz” Escudero told the public on Saturday not to panic in case more residents in the province test positive for coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

If the contact of the province’s first COVID-19 patient, a 37-year-old seafarer from Matnog town, tests positive for the coronavirus, this only means that Sorsogon did the contact tracing properly, Escudero said.

Escudero said authorities have identified 20 contacts, most of whom were in the quarantine facility or ambulance that the seafarer was in.

All of the contacts, 17 of them medical frontliners, will undergo a polymerase chain reaction test while under quarantine.

“It is normal that cases increase when we already have one. That is proof that the Provincial Health Office, the province, and the local government units are conducting contact tracing,” Escudero said.

On Thursday, Escudero announced that Romegio Cruz is the province’s first COVID-19 patient.

He said the patient was asked to sign a waiver to have his name announced to help with contact tracing.

Cruz, tagged by DOH Bicol as Bicol#65, had a history of travel in Florida in the United States of America and was swabbed on May 8 at Dr. Fernando B. Duran Sr. Memorial Hospital, where he is admitted.

LZB