The entire compound of the Dr. Cecilio Putong National High School (DCPNHS) in Tagbilaran City has been placed on lockdown after 14 teachers of the school tested positive for COVID-19.

DCPNHS Principal Maurine Castaño said the school was locked down and disinfected on February 18, a day after the school’s first COVID-19 case was confirmed.

“We are on lockdown and we cannot operate until we get the clearance from the chief of the IATF…para ma-contain and trace kung aha g’yud taman ang contamination,” said Castaño.

Some 44 first-generation contacts of the teacher were tested and 13 of them were confirmed to be infected with the virus.   

Of the 14 COVID-stricken individuals, 10 are from Tagbilaran City including the first teacher to test positive for the disease, while the rest are from various towns.

All of the infected teachers have been isolated. 

The DCPNHS in coordination with the Tagbilaran City Health Office and Disaster Risk Resuction and Management Office worked overtime in the past week in implementing isolation protocols and contact-tracing operations.

Meanwhile, parents who were at the school to pick up learning modules were placed under monitoring.

“We cannot risk the lives of our clients who are from different towns, so di lang jud mamugos mo anha og skwelahan mokuha ug mouli og module. Standby for further notice so we can make sure that everybody is safe,” said Castaño.

The school official explained that the first COVID-19 patient already felt symptoms on February 6 and still reported to work at the school on February 8 and 9.

“It was not simply the teaching demonstration na nahitabo last week because the sick teacher reports to the school without our knowledge nga sick siya,” Castaño said.

Castaño said that all 13 who tested positive for the disease during the follow-up testing stayed near the COVID-infected teacher inside the school’s air-conditioned faculty room.

Authorities however have yet to pinpoint where and how the teacher contracted the virus. (A. Doydora)