More news about how the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines is being handled by the public and the government.
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| https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2022/06/30/2192056/marcos-vows-fix-flaws-pandemic-response |
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. vowed Thursday that he will fix the shortcomings in the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic as he begins his term as the country’s 17th chief executive.
Marcos will face the mammoth tasks of controlling the COVID-19 pandemic and bouncing back from its devastating effects as he succeeds former President Rodrigo Duterte.
“There were shortcomings in the COVID response. We will fix them out in the open. No more secrets in public health,” Marcos said in his inaugural speech delivered at the National Museum in Manila. How he plans to do that remains unclear.
Marcos has yet to appoint a health secretary. In a message to reporters Thursday, the Department of Health said it is awaiting further advice and instructions from the Office of the Executive Secretary on who would be the agency's officer-in-charge.
The Philippines is once again seeing an increase in cases, driven by the presence of fast-spreading variants with immune escape characteristics, increased mobility, and waning vaccine immunity.
The COVID-19 pandemic also exposed and widened cracks in the country’s healthcare system including barriers to accessing healthcare services such as affordable testing and treatment, and the grim situation of medical workers who are overworked but underpaid.
One would think Marcos would have been able to find someone competent enough to appoint as the next DOH secretary but that is not the case.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1620031/duque-exits-doh-sans-successor-in-new-admin |
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III stepped down on Thursday without a successor to take over the agency that has been wracked by controversy as well as criticism for its management of the government response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Medical societies and organizations of health workers had been eagerly awaiting the announcement of the next chief of the Department of Health (DOH). But there was no news on the matter until the last hours of President Duterte’s term.
Asked if Duque had designated an officer to temporarily take over his functions, the DOH said in a statement to reporters that it was awaiting “further advice and instructions” from the Office of the Executive Secretary “as to the [officer in charge] or head of agency upon transition into the new administration.”The health secretary is seen as a key member of the Cabinet, particularly because of the rising number of COVID-19 infections and in the face of such pressing issues as low budget spending and meager salaries of health-care workers, and the slow release of mandated benefits to those who have been on the front lines of the pandemic response since February 2020.
The new holder of the health portfolio is expected to be able to recalibrate government strategies and efforts to effectively curb another spread of COVID-19 as well as overhaul policies and operations at the DOH, which faced allegations of corruption at the height of the pandemic.
Could he really not find somebody to take over the post as DOH secretary?
COVID vaccination could likely become normalized as a part of the Philippines standard vaccination program.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1178083 |
The Philippine government is looking to include the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccine in the routine immunization to ramp up inoculation in certain areas with low jab uptake.
"During this transition period, the National Covid-19 Vaccination Operations Center (NVOC) and vaccination sites will still continue with current operations in administering vaccines and boosters to the eligible population," the Department of Health said in a statement on Saturday.
"NVOC is also reviewing existing policies to identify possible points for revision, one of which is the integration of Covid-19 vaccines to routine immunization," it added.
The agency said "everything is status quo" until the next Health chief has been named or President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. issues new directives.
And it all depends on who the next DOH secretary is! It's unbelievable that Marcos has not appointed someone yet when allegedly the COVID pandemic is one of the biggest crises facing the nation. Maybe the "pandemic" is not that big of a deal after all?
Last month the DOH claimed there would be a surge in August. Now the surge is predicted to start this month and to end in two weeks.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1621371/mini-surge-in-covid-19-cases-later-this-july-likely-says-octa-research |
There is a possibility of a “mini-surge” in COVID-19 cases later this month, based on the calculation of independent pandemic monitor OCTA Research.
(That is still our projection, it seems that it will be a weak or mini surge.)
Recently, David noted that the COVID-19 growth rate in Metro Manila has gone down – which, he also had said, could be an indication that cases “could be peaking” in the first or second week of July.
David, however, stressed that the projected “mini surge” will not reach the level of COVID-19 cases the country saw in January during the “Omicron wave.”
(If we compare our situation with other countries which have seen a rise in COVID-19 cases because of the Omicron BA.4 and the BA.5 that we are also detecting, we are seeing the same situation with our country, it’s a mini-surge. It’s not on the same level as what we’ve seen in January this year – the first Omicron wave – and also last year, the increase caused by Delta and by Alpha and Beta.)
He likewise noted a slower spread of the virus.
(The spread is slower. Because in January, the reproduction number reached 4 or higher. But now, we are seeing 1.5 to 1.6 that’s why the transmission is not that quick and the level of cases is lower.)
Meanwhile, David said the country’s healthcare could not be considered “threatened” now because its utilization rate continues to be at a “low” level.
“Hindi natin masasabing threatened tayo dito sa healthcare utilization rate [We can’t say at this point that our healthcare utilization is threatened],” he said.
If the spread is slow and not very high and if healthcare is not threatened then who cares? It's got a 99% survival rate and its not going anywhere. COVID was never a threat and they should stop pretending it is one. COVID is so not a threat that they have even gone so far as to say they don't see alert levels escalating.
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| https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2022/07/03/2192685/no-escalation-alert-levels-seen-octa |
The OCTA Research Group does not see an escalation of alert levels or imposition of lockdowns despite the recent uptick in new COVID-19 cases.
“Cases are rising, the positivity rate is increasing… But the health care utilization remains low, so there’s some positive to this. We’re not foreseeing any lockdown or escalation of alert levels,” OCTA fellow Guido David told “The Chiefs” over Cignal TV’s One News on Friday night.
“But definitely, we need to be careful. We should be aware that cases are on the rise,” David said.
Great, now the public is aware that cases are on the rise and there is no danger. Now what?
Marcos is being advised to form a COVID Council.
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| https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/07/05/22/marcos-urged-form-council-of-advisers-on-covid-crisis |
A health reform advocate is urging President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to form a council of advisers that could help guide the administration in defeating the COVID-19 crisis.
Dr. Tony Leachon, who previously served as adviser of the National task Force Against COVID-19, said the President needs an adviser similar to Chief Medical Advisor to the President Dr. Anthony Fauci in the United States.
"If not a sole adviser, you can have a group of advisers that can give right away some opinions to the president, again without having any pressure from political or business side," he said in an ANC Headstart interview.
He named doctors Rontgene Solante, Edsel Salvana, and the Philippine College of Physicians and the Philippine Medical Association as potential members of the proposed COVID advisory council.
Malacanang earlier convened the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) to address the COVID-19 pandemic after its initial outbreak in Wuhan, China.
The task force is composed of different government departments and is headed by the Secretary of the Department of Health.
In the interview, Leachon noted that the lack of a health secretary can demoralize the medical community and the Filipino people.
Marcos has yet to name a new health secretary.
- It's not clear how different a council would be from the IATF. Perhaps Marcos had better get his stuff together and appoint a competent DOH Secretary.
Face to face classes will be back in session soon and one DepEd region wants to study learning gaps before classes resume.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1177927 |
The Department of Education (DepEd) in Western Visayas (Region 6) will conduct a study that will look into the learning gaps in the region due to the health pandemic as schools prepare to open next school year.
“There are divisions that have contextualized ways of assessing to find out learning losses. But for this coming school year, I will ask the Policy, Planning and Research Division to take the lead, that we will conduct our research,” said DepEd Regional Director Ramir B. Uytico in an interview on Thursday.
Uytico added that the region did not pursue a unified assessment for all 21 divisions this school year since they have their own approaches and strategies amid the pandemic.He said it would be difficult to conduct a study when learners are still at home and they were unsure if the children, not their parents, were the ones answering the modules.
The DepEd official is looking to come up with a clear picture, know the losses and determine how to address the gaps through the proposed study.
What a tragedy. The schools absolutely did not need to be shut down and they should have been reopened a long time ago like every where else in the world. Now students are the worse for it. Note that he says that there was no unified approach during the pandemic but each division did their own thing.
The Marcos administration is being urged to shift the burden of procuring vaccines onto the public.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1619435/fwd-marcos-admin-urged-pass-responsibility-of-vaccine-procurement-to-citizens |
As the country shifts out of the pandemic, it should be citizens’ responsibility to get the COVID-19 vaccines, outgoing presidential adviser for entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion said Thursday.Concepcion made the remark as he noted some possible recommendations for President-elect Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. who will officially assume his post this afternoon.“Hopefully we send him a recommendation on how we can transition gradually from this pandemic to endemic and there are key points that have to be done,” Concepcion said in an interview on ABS-CBN News Channel.
Concepcion said that the public has to be allowed to procure vaccines.
“We have to get vaccine manufacturers to apply for a certificate of product registration. Why is that important? Because I believe that taking care of our health is not just the role of the government,” Concepcion said.
“The government has bought vaccines for our people. But as you can see, if all of a sudden our citizens stop taking vaccines, then these just go to waste. So we should pass on the responsibility of procuring vaccines to our citizens,” he added.
Meanwhile, Concepcion said that the government can still set aside some funds for vaccine procurement for those who cannot afford them.
“For those who cannot afford these vaccines, I would still recommend that the government set aside some funds to purchase these vaccines but the rest, I believe it should be our citizens,” Concepcion said.
The problem with this is that the vaccine is practically mandatory in many places, unless one wants to spend every few days to get swabbed, and it only places a larger burden on the public. Not to mention the efficacy wanes and there will be need for a constant barrage of never ending booster shots!
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