The mayor of Santa Maria, Bulacan tested positive for Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) after undergoing a Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) test.
Based on the results of the swab test released this Wednesday, Mayor Russel Pleyto tested positive for COVID-19 and is currently undergoing 14-day quarantine.
According to his Facebook account post, Mayor Pleyto admitted that he had experienced flu-like symptoms since Monday and to ensure and protect the welfare of those he had close contact with, he immediately took a swab test and the result turned out he was positive of the disease.
Municipal health office staff were also working on contact tracing and some of them have also undergone swab testing based on the mayor’s directive to prevent infection.
The mayor also called on all those he had close contacted to observe themselves and if they show any symptoms, they should immediately inform their Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams (BHERTs) in their respective barangays.
Pleyto is the sixth mayor in Bulacan that had contracted COVID-19, which included Baliuag Mayor Ferdie Estrella, Bulacan Mayor Vergel Meneses, Balagtas Mayor Eladio Gonzales Jr., Bocaue Mayor Jose Santiago and San Ildefonso Mayor Carla Galvez-Tan.
In September of last year, Governor Daniel Fernando also tested positive for COVID-19.