MANKAYAN, Benguet – Mayor Frenzel A. Ayong reported back to work after several weeks of hurdling the difficulties in his bout against the dreaded Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) which he contracted before the middle of last month.
However, he stated that he will gradually and slowly go back to his original routine in his office and attending to his official and social functions although his latest swab test result turned out to be negative from the virus.
On April 11, 2021, the local chief executive tested positive of the virus after he showed some symptoms that compelled him to initially undergo isolation prior to undergoing the required swab test.
“We must make sure that we will continue to adhere to the implementation of the basic health and safety protocols to prevent us from contracting the deadly virus because it is really very difficult to recover from it. COVID is for real just what health authorities had been publicly announcing in the past and the best way to prevent us from being infected is to observe the established health and safety protocols,” Mayor Ayong stressed.
The mayor pointed out that local officials and health authorities had been doing their part in constantly reminding the people of their supposed compliance to the health and safety protocols during the various levels of community quarantine but it seems it took some time for the same to sink in to the minds of the people that paved the way for the recent surges in the number of COVID cases in the different parts of the country.
He asserted that the primary purpose of the government in imposing the restrictions on the movement of people during the different levels of community quarantine is for the overall health and safety of the people, especially in preventing them from contracting the virus so that they will remain productive in their daily lives.
According to him, the recent surges in the number of cases around the country over the past several weeks is a clear indication that the virus is present in the midst of the communities and that local and community transmission is evident that is why people should be more careful in complying with the health and safety protocols to prevent the further escalation of the cases that could lead to a compromised health care system and stressed frontliners.
Ayong stipulated that individually, people should take upon themselves their obligation to protect themselves, their family members, relatives and friends by simply adhering to the implementation of the basic health and safety protocols that had been crafted by experts to spare them from contracting the virus.
Mankayan is one of the municipalities in Benguet that have recorded one of the highest COVID cases that started to surge late last year because of the influx of locally stranded individuals (LSIs) and returning Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) aside from the cases that came from the mining communities in the locality.
While the situation in the municipality remains to be under control, he emphasized that people should not wait for another surge in the number of cases before realizing the need for them to comply with the existing health and safety protocols to prevent them from contracting the virus. By HENT
