The management of Island City Mall (ICM) issues a statement regarding the death of a staffer who has been allegedly tagged as a Covid suspect patient. The statement was posted on the official Facebook page of ICM on July 10, 2020.

In the statement, “We would like to clarify the unfounded rumors circulated on social media regarding the death of one of our employees at the IT Department of Island City Mall.”

The same statement said, “We are deeply saddened by the loss of one of our team members and we continuously offer our prayers for the family of the late employee.”

The ICM management indicated in the statement, “To clarify, an employee assigned at our IT Department passed away last July 6, 2020.”

It was further stated that, “Before that, the employee had not been reporting for work for more than a week. In line with the government’s protocols currently in place, a swab sample
for (polymerase chain reaction) PCR testing was taken from the late employee and still awaiting results.”

The same statement continued, “As part of our proactive measures to ensure the health and safety of our customers and employees, the work area of the employee was immediately put into lockdown and was properly disinfected upon learning of the employee’s passing away.”

“Being an IT Staff, the employee was not part of the sales group of the mall and was not assigned in the selling area nor in the public spaces of the Mall,” the ICM management said.

The same statement said, “As an added precaution, all nine (9) co-workers who had direct exposure with the late employee have already been placed on strict 14-day quarantine since July 6,
2020 in one (Department of Health) DOH-accredited quarantine facility in Tagbilaran City. These nine (9) employees have also undergone rapid testing and all of them tested NEGATIVE.”

Moreover, the statement added, “It has been 12 days since their last contact with the late employee. We would like to clarify that the nine (9) co-workers are NOT experiencing any of the COVID-19 symptoms. The same nine (9) co-workers have also undergone PCR testing and, as of today, (July 10, 2020) there are no results yet.”

The statement further reveals, “During these times, we encourage everybody to only rely on official sources of information regarding the situation of the pandemic. The spread of false information about COVID-19 is not helpful to our community. Since the onset of this pandemic, the management has been taking extra precaution by continually sanitizing and disinfecting our stores inorder to protect you, our valued customers and our employees as well in compliance with the mandated government protocols.”