By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

The Negros Occidental provincial government recorded four additional employees who tested positive for coronavirus disease 2019, or COVID-19, bringing the total cases in the provincial government to 43.

Provincial administrator, Atty. Rayfrando Diaz, said the new infections include an executive assistant, a department head, a job order casual assigned at the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist at the Panaad Park and Stadium in Bacolod City’s Barangay Mansilingan, and a radiologist from the Teresita Lopez Jalandoni Provincial Hospital in Silay City.

The executive assistant who had fallen ill with COVID-19 was reported Thursday last week, May 13, while two of the new cases underwent reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests last Sunday afternoon and their results were released the same day.

Despite the new infections among the provincial government employees, Diaz pointed out the good news is that the number of active cases among their employees has now dropped to 36 after seven of the previous employees have since recovered and were released from their quarantine at the Mambukal Resort. The seven have also returned to work.

Due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the provincial capitol, Diaz said they have forwarded a request to the Department of Health for them to start inoculating the provincial government employees so as to avoid derailing their basic services to the public.

If approved, he said they are targeting to vaccinate at least 3,000 employees, although it is possible that it could be further reduced due to earlier vaccinations on health workers of the provincial government.

“Maybe another 1,000 plus ang ginalantaw naton nga mabakunahan diri sa provincial capitol,” Diaz said./DGB, WDJ