19 at Jesuit houses inside Ateneo campus test positive for COVID-19

Nineteen people at three Jesuit houses in the Ateneo de Manila campus in Quezon City have tested positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), Jesuit Communications executive director Father Emmanuel "Nono" Alfonso said Tuesday.

In an interview on Super Radyo dzBB, Alfonso said that of the 19 positive individuals, two are priests, five are personnel, while the rest are seminarians.

The positive cases were in three of the four Jesuit houses currently under lockdown in the area. There are no positive cases in the Ateneo Jesuit Residence itself, he added.

“Okay naman po [sila]. Mild, isolated ang mga nagpositibo. Dalawa po ‘yung pari. ‘Yung isang pari po ‘yung na-hospitalize pero stable naman po,” Alfonso said.

(They are okay. The positive cases are mild and isolated. One of the priests was hospitalized, but he is in stable condition.)

JUST IN: 19 na indibidwal mula sa Ateneo Jesuit residences sa Quezon City na kinabibilangan ng mga pari, seminarista at mga tauhan, nagpositibo sa COVID-19, ayon kay Fr. Emmanuel "Nono" Alfonso, SJ, Jesuit Communications executive director. pic.twitter.com/5XjbqKZrMn

— DZBB Super Radyo (@dzbb) September 28, 2021

Alfonso said though the movement of priests and seminarians were limited inside Ateneo, there were personnel who were coming in and going out.

“Meron po kasing mga staff, ‘yung sa kusina, ‘yung sa maintenance po, na sila ‘yung pinapayagan na pumasok na. So ‘yun po ‘yung duda ng doctor namin na baka doon po nanggaling kasi hindi naman lumalabas ‘yung mga pari at seminarista,” he said.

(There are staff, those in the kitchen and maintenance, allowed to go to work. So our doctor suspects that the infection came from there since the priests and the seminarians are not allowed to go out.)

According to Alfonso, the cases are currently isolated at a Philippine Red Cross quarantine facility in Ateneo.

The Philippines has logged a total of 2,522,965 cases.—AOL/BM, GMA News