Four Cordillera police recruits found positive of virus: More schools suspend classes over (A)H1N1

BAGUIO CITY – More schools in northern and Central Luzon have suspended classes due to the dreaded A(HINI) virus as cases have risen in these areas.

The Department of Education has allowed schools to suspend classes over suspected or confirmed cases of Influenza A(H1N1) virus but on a strict “case to case” basis

DepEd Communications Unit chief Kenneth Tirado said schools “are still allowed to suspend classes especially if it’s their first time to have a confirmed Influenza A(H1N1) case or if they have a relatively high number of suspected cases.”

Education Secretary Jesli Lapus last week ordered schools to stop suspending classes when there are confirmed cases of A(H1N1) among their students, saying such measure was unnecessary because A(H1N1) was proving to be highly treatable while dengue fever was more deadly.

In this mountain resort, the University of Baguio, St. Louis University, Pines City Colleges and the Baguio City National High School have suspended classes due to the dreaded disease.

In nearby La Trinidad, Benguet, the Benguet State Unviersity also suspended classes last week.

At Camp Dangwa, also in La Trinidad, the regional police office confirmed reports that 220 cop recruis and 30 training personnel of the Cordillera Administrative Region Training School based in Teachers’ Camp, Baguio have been placed under quarantine after four of the rookies were found positive of A(H1N1).

Chief Supt. Orlando Pestano, regional police director said here at Camp Dangwa there is need to isolate the whole contingent and the training staff to prevent the spread of the virus to their relatives and friends who visit them in the training camp.

The four infected police recruits are kept in separate isolation facilities in the camp, while their fellow trainees and the training staff are placed under quarantine in the Teachers’ Camp.

Despite this, Pestano said trainees and their instructors will continue with training under close supervision of physicians.

The 220 new policemen, who were formally accepted by the regional police office last week, are undergoing a six-month training, aftter which they will be formally assigned at various police units in the region as Police Officer 1..

Pestano said there are fears there would be a rapid spread of the virus in the training camp because the infected ones have direct contact with their fellow trainees and the staff.

The Cordillera police chief said he is one of the close contacts of the trainees and the training personnel because he visited them last Tuesday before the laboratory results of the throat swabs of those infected were released.

Temporarily, he said, he confines himself in his quarters and avoids socializing until next week.

In Cagayan Valley, three more cases of A(H1N1) have been confirmed.

Dr. Lydia Depra-Ramos, DOH regional director, said the three additional A(H1N1) victims are all high school students, two from Isabela and a 12-year-old freshman from Saint Mark High School in Cabarroguis, Quirino.

The patient from Quirino, the first reported case in the province, tested positive for the virus with a history of contact from a lecturer of the University of Santo Tomas, who was invited by the school administration.

Likewise, two students from Tumauini, Isabela also tested positive for A(H1N1) after being exposed to a sick relative from the US and spending days in Manila recently.
But Ramos said the situation is still manageable.

In San Fernando, Pampanga, Provincial Health Office officer Eddie Ponio said the leap in the A(H1N1) cases could be due to two big malls in the province.
Dr. Rhodora Cruz, chair of the A(H1N1) team of the DOH regional office, said that from only eight cases as of last July 1, confirmed cases of A(H1N1) in Pampanga jumped up to 101 as of last Monday July 13.

The DOH regional office said that from only 83 cases last July 1, the total number of confirmed A(H1N1) victims in Central Luzon has zoomed to 205.

But Ponio said the figures are larger. He said A(H1N1) cases in Pampanga have already reached 112 as of Thursday.. This would make Pampanga the worst hit among Central Luzon provinces, amid reports that Bulacan, the next worst affected, had only 35 confirmed cases.
Despite the rise in the number of A(H1N1) cases in Central Luzon, Cruz noted that 96 percent of the victims have already fully recovered.

Latest figures from the DOH regional office indicated a slight rise in A(H1N1) cases in other provinces in Central Luzon as of last Monday July 13.

Nueva Ecija has 30 cases, Bataan 20 cases, Zambales 17 cases and Tarlac two cases as of Thursday. No case has been reported in Aurora province.

Cruz noted that despite the new policy of the government which no longer encourages suspension of classes in schools affected by A(H1N1), St. Scholastica’s Academy and the Assumption University Seminary in San Fernando, Pampanga recently suspended classes to disinfect their campuses, she said

Meanwhile, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Thursday clarified that, contrary to earlier reports, the government is not providing P75,000 for workers afflicted with Influenza A(H1N1), Labor Secretary Marianito Roque said.

“The government is not extending financial assistance to all workers afflicted with the flu virus,” he said. – By Dexter See, Armand Tamaray, George Trillo, Liam Anacleto and Jerry Padilla