The specter of local transmission hangs in the balance as a Tagbilaranon who went to Manila and got tested via reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) there is found to be positive of Covid infection. This development raises the question of the possibility of another case of local transmission in our midst.

When asked about this, Niel John Oclarit of the Department of Health (DoH) said that “it could be a local transmission”. However, Oclarit added that in the case of the Boholano who ended up positive for Covid after getting tested in Manila, there are things needed to be considered pending investigation.

Oclarit emphasized during a press briefing on Friday, July 10, 2020 that “Once mugawas na ang result sa iyang mga close contact, ang close contact gi pang RT-PCR man daw sa city (government), so kun adunay magpositive then we will consider it as a local transmission.” (Once the result of the RT-PCR test of the close contacts of the Boholano who ended up positive for Covid in Manila will already be released and somebody gets Covid positive from among the close contacts, then we can say that the case is one of local transmission. It was learned that the close contacts were subjected to an RT-PCR test by the city government)

This information emerged when Tagbilaran City Mayor John Gessnell Yap II reported that a Tagbilaranon went to Manila on July 6, 2020 on board a sweeper flight and upon arrival in Manila, the person was tested for Covid infection via RT-PCR on July 7, 2020, and was told that the test result on July 8 showed that the Boholano is positive for covid infection. .

Mayor Yap also said that the members of the Tagbilaranon’s family in barangay Dampas were placed under quarantine and were subjected to a rapid antibody test. The mayor said the rapid antibody test results turned out to be all negative. The mayor also ordered the family members to be tested via RT- PCR as contact tracing activities have been initiated.

Bohol is no stranger to local transmissions of the Covid causing virus. On June 2020, at least two (2) patients’ cases were deemed to be local transmissions of the virus, also known as community transmission, according to health officials in the province.

The possibility of local transmission of the virus is like a sword of Damocles hanging over Boholanos’ head where at any instance it could cause massive number of Covid cases.

In previous radio interviews, Bohol Medical Society president Dr. Jefferson Ong stressed that it takes only one (1) Covid infected person to start a local pandemic if people are not careful and would disregard health and safety protocols.

Back to Oclarit, he said in the same July 10 press briefing that based on the World Health Organization (WHO) definition of the term “local transmission”, the following points should be considered:

  • It is a kind of transmission from a person (to another).
  • The person is coming from a place known to have high cases of Covid infection.
  • The person is proven to have spread the virus to another person;
  • This person has no known travel history to a place with high incidence of Covid cases. 

On the other hand, Oclarit dismissed the possibility that the other case where a Boholano traveled to Leyte and tested positive for Covid after his arrival there, is another case of local transmission.

He said that he was able to interview the patient who is in Leyte now, and who left Bohol on June 18, 2020, but was subjected RT-PCR only on June 29, 2020. As far as this case is concerned, Oclarit has this to say: “Definitely, dako ang chance na didto na siya Leyte na takdan.” (Definitely, there is a big chance that he got infected of Covid 19 in Leyte.)

RELIEF

In a related development, Boholanos can heave a sigh of relief for now, because after waiting for the RT-PCR test results of three (3) other cases of possible local transmission, the said results have just arrived and all these turned out to be negative.

The first possible local transmission case involves a 29-year-old information technology (IT) staffer of the Island City Mall (ICM). Mayor Yap reported on Friday evening that the RT-PCR test of the IT staffer turned out to be negative.

The IT staffer died last July 6, 2020 as he was exhibiting respiratory problems and according to a statement by ICM posted on social media, the staffer ceased to report to work a week before he died. This was confirmed on Friday, July 10, 2020 by ICM Mall Manager, Mario Cirujales in an interview over the highly rated “Newsmakers” program hosted by Ardy Araneta-Batoy and son Chandymar.

The second possible case of local transmission could have been of a widow who died at the Gov. Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital on July 4, 2020. The patient had the symptoms related to Covid 19, but the test result came out to be negative, according to a report by the Municipality of Inabanga, on its Facebook page on July 10, 2020.

The third one is the case involving the late Carmen police chief, Major Jodel Torregosa.

According to Buenavista Mayor Dave Duallo, the results of the RT-PCR test done on the remains of Torregosa turned out to be negative. He announced this in a Facebook post yesterday, July 11, 2020.

Torregosa died last July 4, 2020 due to severe asthma attack and expired at the Francisco Dagohoy District Hospital in Inabanga. As a result, the police personnel in Carmen and Sagbayan who are placed under quarantine due to their close contacts with Torregosa, may now go back to work.