Infected Zambales DepEd employees transmit coronavirus to 7 beach resort workers

At least nine COVID-19-infected employees of the Department of Education in Zambales work in a public school in the town of Botolan. They were exposed to a teacher who was a guest speaker in two seminars recently held in two beach resorts in the capital town of Iba. PHOTO BY JOANNA ROSE AGLIBOT

SAN ANTONIO, Zambales –Seven beach resort workers have tested positive for SARS Cov2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, after they were exposed to infected employees of the Department of Education (DepEd) in this province, authorities said on Thursday (March 18).

According to Dr. Noel Bueno, provincial health director, the new infections found their mark among workers of the Bakasyunan beach resort in Iba town, which hosted a DepEd seminar from March 9 to 12.

In a text message, Bueno said the source of the infections among nine DepEd employees was a teacher who served as the guest speaker in the two separate seminars attended by at least 300 school supervisors and other DepEd employees.

Some of them were still awaiting results of lab tests.

Six of the infected DepEd employees belonged to a public school in Botolan town. They all attended another DepEd seminar in Funtasea beach resort, also in Iba, from March 1 to 6.

As of Wednesday (March 17), 20 new cases were added to the province’s COVID-19 tally, bringing the total cases to 1,010 since 2020.

TSB