Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 26) — A number of employees of a members-only supermarket in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig have been placed under quarantine after interacting with Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III who was tested positive COVID-19.
“It was confirmed that the senator was at S&R BGC on March 16, 2020,” the supermarket said Thursday. “CCTV footage showed him checking out at counter 13 at exactly 1:59 p.m.”
S&R did not say how many employees were put at risk for interacting with the senator. But it assured that all its outlets, especially the one in BGC, have been sanitized.
“We disinfect our stores daily and ascertain that our staff are clear prior to work,” S&R said. “Shopping carts and handles, front-end belts, item shelves, and registers are kept clean every single day. Our employees are constantly reminded of the safety precautions regarding the virus.”
Pimentel had said he started experiencing body pains two days before he went to S&R. He said he got tested for COVID-19 six days later.
He said he was informed of his test results Tuesday night while at the Makati Medical Center with his wife, Kathryna, who was about to give birth to their first child.
MMC castigated Pimentel in a strongly-worded statement released Wednesday, saying that his breach of quarantine protocols added to the burden of the hospital, which is already at full capacity due to COVID-19.
The hospital’s medical director, Bong Javier, told CNN Philippines that up to eight of their personnel came in contact with Pimentel, with up to three of them now under quarantine.
Pimentel apologized for what happened and appealed to the public for understanding. He said he considered accompanying his wife to the hospital to be essential and that he no longer had a fever and was no longer coughing.
But Javier said that if the senator was not yet aware of his test result, he should have taken extra precaution since one of his colleagues, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri, tested positive for the virus.
“If you have a colleague who is positive, all the more you should be extra careful and you should consider yourself to have the infection,” Javier said.
