Pampanga mayor gets virus; 15 colleagues under quarantine

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO Pampanga, Philippines — Fifteen mayors in Pampanga province on Sunday underwent swab tests for the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and retreated into isolation after being exposed to a colleague who had contracted the virus.

Gov. Dennis Pineda on Monday said he requested the mayors to take the tests and skip work until the results had been released to avoid transmitting the virus.

The mayors were exposed to Candaba Mayor Rene Maglanque during a meeting of the Pampanga Mayors League (PML) with officials of the Department of Education on July 13.

Maglanque said he experienced chills after attending the meeting but managed to travel to Metro Manila on July 15 and return to Pampanga on the same day. He tested positive for the virus after a swab test on July 18.

Mayor Carmelo Lazatin Jr. of Angeles City said he did not have himself tested because he only talked briefly with Pineda and did not mingle with Maglanque during the meeting.

The mayors of Apalit, Mexico and Floridablanca towns and San Fernando and Mabalacat cities were either absent or represented in the PML meeting.

In the meeting, the mayors and resource persons sat at least a meter apart. Pineda sat at the head table next to Minalin Mayor Edgar Flores, the PML president. Maglanque sat between Macabebe Mayor Leonardo Flores and Magalang Mayor Romulo Pecson.

According to Maglanque, he left the meeting after it was adjourned. He said he might have been exposed to the virus through a worker in his farm.

On Monday, several mayors posted on social media their advisories about their absence from work and quarantine. Pineda said he was also in isolation.

More cases

In Rizal province, officials of Binangonan town ordered the closure of the public market, the town’s center of commerce and fish wharf, for at least a week to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Jose Hernandez, municipal disaster risk reduction and management officer, said at least five market vendors were quarantined after testing positive for COVID-19 since the local government began testing more than 250 stall owners and vendors over the weekend.

The public market is close to the fish wharf where fish harvests from Talim Island in Laguna de Bay and stocks of saltwater fish from Metro Manila are delivered.

The weeklong closure, he said, will also give way to market disinfection and installation of plastic dividers, as protection between vendors and marketgoers.

Binangonan recorded 125 COVID-19 cases as of July 19.

—With a report from Maricar Cinco