In Quezon City (QC), the local government unit (LGU) shut down a sauna – Fahrenheit Cafe and Fitness Center, more known as F Club – after its management refused to cooperate with local authorities conducting contact tracing on possible mpox cases.
Specifically, the LGU announced that it served a cease-and-desist order and notice of violation to F Club, which is located along E. Rodriguez Sr. Avenue, for “not allowing the city’s contact tracing team to conduct investigation and inquiries in the establishment.”
F Club, an all-male membership club bathhouse operating since 2003, was visited by the QC Epidemiology and Surveillance Division (QCESD) on Saturday to initiate contact tracing measures, following the DOH’s instructions for possible mpox transmission. The management, however, refused to cooperate, and so the facility was ordered to shut.
Republic Act No. 11332 (or the Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Concern Act) sanctions persons or entities that refuse to cooperate after being identified as possibly having any notifiable disease that could impact public health.
In a statement released to the media, QC mayor Joy Belmonte stated: “We consider this refusal to cooperate with our contact tracing efforts as a threat to the health and well-being of QCitizens. Our response and investigation are prompt, but they are hampered and delayed due to the lack of cooperation.”
Belmonte ordered business owners to work closely with the LGU particularly on public health concerns. “I am calling on residents and business owners to cooperate with the city’s health event investigations. We are simply fulfilling our responsibility to ensure that all QCitizens are protected and safe.”
The management of F Club eventually posted on Facebook that mpox preventive measures are being done in its premises.
