In Eastern Samar
TACLOBAN CITY- The town of Jipapad in Eastern Samar recorded its first case of coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
The index case of the town involved a 31- year old woman who just accompanied her husband who is confined at the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center (EVRMC).
Dr. Rona Mariblanca, municipal health officer, thus said, that the woman did not get the infection from the town.
The town’s first case was reported by the Department of Health (DOH) last Wednesday (July 14).
Mariblanca said that prior to the admission at the EVRMC, the husband of the COVID-19 patient was first confined at the Eastern Samar Provincial Hospital.
The health officer, however, did not disclose the ailment of the COVID-19 patient’s husband.
Mariblanca added that the COVID-19 patient is still at the EVRMC and is now conducting their contact tracing though they suspect that the woman could have acquired the infection.
Jipapad town, although already connected to the national road, is still considered as one of the geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas (GIDA).
The town, which is located in between two rivers, is constantly hit with flooding during typhoon and heavy rainfall that sometimes reaches to the second floor or roof of a one-storey house, which could be a factor why no Covid-19 cases are recoded in the municipality for a long time, according Dr. Marc Stephen Capungcol, regional epidemiology and surveillance unit Chief in a recent talk.
“They were implementing the same protocols that other local government units are implementing. There is nothing extraordinary. It just so happen that in the past few months the town is always hit by typhoons and people had problem in going back and forth,” Capungcol said.(ROEL T. AMAZONA)
