By Felipe V. Celino
ROXAS CITY, Capiz – The burial of a 47-year-old teacher from Mambusao, Capiz who was positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and died last Sunday afternoon has permission from the Capiz Provincial Health Office (PHO).
Dr. Wilfred Rivera, municipal health officer of Cuartero, Capiz, said that he personally asked permission from the PHO to bury the teacher in Cuartero (not in Mambusao as earlier reported) because there was no vacant space in the municipal cemetery of Mambusao.
Rivera, however, has asked the public not to worry because there is no chance that the virus will infect residents near the cemetery.
Besides, they strictly followed the health protocol to those who brought the deceased to her final resting place, he added.
The teacher was a native of Cuartero but resided in Mambusao after she married a Mambusaonon resident who is presently working abroad.
Mambusao Mayor Leodegario Jun Labao Jr. himself confirmed in an official statement that the teacher was immediately buried as advised by the doctors.
The lady teacher died at the Roxas Memorial Provincial Hospital (RMPH).
According to Punong Barangay Celso Lajo of Atiplo, the patient may have contracted the virus when she bought school supplies in Roxas City.
The teacher has three female children and one of them was also positive for the virus.
Lajo advised the co-teachers of the patient to undergo self-quarantine.
The family and other close contacts of the patient are also under strict home quarantine and were subjected to reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test.
Labao reminded Mambusao residents to observe health protocols such as wearing of face masks and face shields, physical distancing and handwashing to avoid contracting and spreading the disease.
