CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews / 22 May) – The second round of swab tests on the wife, daughter and granddaughter of a 69-year-old coronavirus patient in Pinikitan, Barangay Camaman-an, this city, produced negative results, a local health official said.
Dr. Joselito Retuya, chief of the Cagayan de Oro City Health Office said the results came as a welcome relief to the family after their neighbors ostracized them after they tested positive during the first tests.
Residents go through an improvised disinfection cubicle in Adela Subdivision in Barangay Camaman-an, Cagayan de Oro City on Saturday, April 25, 2020 as news spread about the death of a COVID-19 patient in nearby Pinikitan village. Residents set up barricades at every street in Barangay Camaman-an overnight. MindaNews photo by FROILAN GALLARDO
“They are now being processed by medical personnel of the City Isolation Unit so they can return to their homes in Sitio Pinikitan, Barangay Camaman-an, “ Retuya said.
The official said the wife of Patient 6783, their daughter and granddaughter have nearly completed their 14-day quarantine in an undisclosed isolation facility in the city.
He said they tested positive based on the tests done days after Patient 6783 died last April 18.
The results led to their being ostracized in their community. The stigma made the 64-year-old wife of the patient pull a knife at the medical workers who were to bring her to the Northern Mindanao Medical Center.
Mayor Oscar Moreno appealed to the neighbors to accept the family back into their community.
“They cannot infect anyone since they have been tested negative. They already suffered enough with the loss of the father. They should not live with the stigma for the rest of their lives,” Moreno said.
The city government has isolated a small community, Zone 10 in Macanhan, Barangay Carmen last Wednesday after a 62-year-old patient was found positive for COVID-19.
Retuya said the woman died last May 15 of heart failure and pneumonia. Before she was cremated, a swab test was conducted on her body.
He said the Southern Philippines Medical Center informed them last May 20 that the swab test showed a positive result.
(Froilan Gallardo/MindaNews)
