More news about how the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines is being handled by the public and the government.
While children are at a lower risk of contracting COVID-19 it's not as if they are immune.
 |
| https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/metro/802670/99-children-positive-for-covid-19-in-qc-orphanage-belmonte/story/ |
Ninety-nine children are among the 122 people who tested positive for COVID-19 in an orphanage in Quezon City, Mayor Joy Belmonte reported Thursday.
In a statement, Belmonte said those who tested positive for the virus included 99 children aged 18 and below at the Gentlehands Orphanage in Barangay Bagumbuhay.
According to Dr. Rolando Cruz, Quezon City's Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (CESU) chief, an asymptomatic adult allegedly visited the orphanage and unknowingly brought the virus, which caused the outbreak.
This was denied by Charity Graff, executive director of Gentle Hands Inc., saying they have not received any visitor at all.
Interviewed at Super Radyo DZBB, Belmonte said of the 122 people who tested positive, 51 were children aged two to 10 years old; 48 were aged 11 to 18 years, and 23 were adults.
"Rather than take out the positive patients in 73% of the total population while the testing is still ongoing... the CESU endorsed this to the barangay as a 'special concern lockdown,' this is our version of the granular lockdown," Belmonte said.
She said those who tested negative without symptoms, as well as those who tested negative but with symptoms were separated in other rooms of the private facility.
"The recommendation is to keep everyone inside the facility and just separate them according to their health status," Belmonte said.
"It is not true that an asymptomatic visitor spread the virus because we have not received any visitors at all, due to the fact that some of the children are immunocompromised and we have prohibited non-members of the staff from going inside the facility," said Graff.
"While it is true that several individuals have tested positive in our facility, the source of the infection is still being traced," she added.
Whatever the source of the infection these children will likely survive and have natural antibodies which would make a vaccine superfluous were they eligible to receive one.
In Lapu-Lapu City the government is asking businesses to give vaccinated folks discounts.
 |
| https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/398476/discounts-in-lapu-lapu-supermarkets-for-vaccinated-individuals-pushed |
The Lapu-Lapu City government will ask malls, supermarkets and grocery stores to give discounts to vaccinated individuals.
Lawyer James Sayson, deputy chief for the Local Vaccination Operations Center (LVOC), said that on Tuesday, September 7, he would meet with the grocery store owners to discuss such an initiative.
(We will still hold a meeting for that this Tuesday. I will still talk to them. It’s a working proposal.)
Sayson said that during their meeting on Tuesday, they would also identify if how much would be the discount that grocery store owners would give.
The proposal, Sayson said, would encourage more Oponganons to participate in the city’s vaccination rollout.
This is after they have observed the decline of individuals visiting the vaccination sites.
 |
| https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/09/10/21/cagayan-hospital-clears-tents-of-patients-amid-kiko |
Cagayan Valley Medical Center began its preemptive evacuation of patients ahead of Typhoon Kiko's onslaught, its chief said Friday.
Tropical cyclone wind Signal No. 3, which warns of destructive typhoon-force winds 18 hours, was raised over the extreme northeastern portion of Cagayan early Friday.
The referral hospital has 224 virus patients, of which 209 were confirmed to be positive while others were suspected of carrying COVID-19, said Glenn Matthew Bagao.
(We started the preemptive evacuation of our patients Thursday. Some of them were in tents. We can't risk their safety if the storm and wind worsens. We can't risk our COVID patients and our staff.)
(We put COVID patients in one room. They're safer there than in tents.)
Some virus patients were transferred to a room big enough for four or for a family, Bagao said, adding that tents were still in place in the hospital's waiting area and were reinforced in preparation for the typhoon.
If you thought this pandemic was going to be over anytime soon you better think again.
 |
| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1486388/duterte-extends-ph-state-of-calamity-due-to-covid-19-for-another-year |
President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday extended the state of calamity placed over the Philippines due to COVID-19 for one more year.
In his Proclamation No. 1218, Duterte extended the state of calamity “for a period of one year, effective 13 September 2021 to 12 September 2022, unless earlier lifted or extended as circumstances may warrant.”
“This declaration will, among others, effectively afford the national government as well local government units (LGUs) ample latitude to continue to implement the COVID-19 vaccination program, utilize appropriate funds including the quick response fund, in their disaster preparedness and response efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19,” Duterte said.
He added this will allow the government to “monitor and control prices of basic necessities and prime commodities, and provide basic services to the affected populations.”
This proclamation will effectively keep the rotating lockdowns going and allow the government to continue enforcing useless health protocols like wearing face shields. Maybe during this next year more than 30% of the funds allocated for the pandemic will be used.
 |
| https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2021/09/09/2125804/less-30-2021-budget-disbursed-pandemic |
With less than 30 percent of the P4.5-trillion General Appropriations Act (GAA) disbursed as of July, it is no wonder the country’s economy as well as its health system has barely started to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, Senate deliberations on the proposed budget for next year showed.
At the hearing yesterday of the Senate finance committee, chaired by Sen. Sonny Angara, into the proposed P5.024-trillion national budget for 2022, senators expressed shock that less than 30 percent of this year’s Congress-allocated funds were disbursed when the Duterte administration had dubbed it as the “Reset, Rebound, Recover” spending plan.
The figure was disclosed by Department of Budget and Management (DBM) officer-in-charge Undersecretary Tina Rose Marie Canda upon questioning from Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto.
“The national budget is almost a fiction as far as its role in national development is concerned,” Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said during the hearing.
Sen. Nancy Binay said the failure to spend over two-thirds of this year’s budget meant “the streets, the bridges, the farm-to-market roads that we are supposed to use, the farmers are supposed to benefit have not yet been built.”
In her Executive Order No. 42 issued on Sept. 7, Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia said employees of all establishments allowed to operate under general community quarantine (GCQ) must wear face masks and personal air purifiers at all times. Cebu is currently under “GCQ with heightened restrictions.”Last month, she also required drivers and conductors of public utility vehicles to wear personal air purifiers while at work.
The purifiers, which are said to emit negative ions to ward off air pollutants, cost between P500 and P2,000 in the city.
Dennis Derige, the spokesperson of Partido Manggagawa Cebu Chapter, appealed to Garcia to reconsider her decision, saying the price of a personal air purifier is two to four times the minimum wage of Cebuano laborers.
“There has been no scientific evidence that air purifiers can help prevent COVID-19. No less than the Department of Health (DOH) said so,” he added.
After a lot of uproar the Cebu Mayor issued a statement that this scheme was voluntary. One thing not voluntary in Cebu is wearing a mask while riding a bicycle.
 |
| https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/399896/cyclists-given-a-week-to-follow-protocols-or-leisure-biking-will-be-banned-again |
(Although it is not easy to wear a mask while biking, if they cannot do it, then they better not do biking. We appeal to the public to follow since we are living in a new normal, it is very risky to bike without a mask, especially if you are after a biker who just spit anywhere.)
Parilla said that should they continue to be complacent in following these protocols, they would be recommending to the Cebu City Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to stop leisure biking, considering that cyclists would still not follow the health protocols.
Parilla appealed to bikers, who would go inside Cebu City to adhere to protocols implemented here.
(We appeal to the public to follow the protocols implemented for us to enjoy exercising, especially during these days. We are living in a new normal, so we have to adapt to the new changes and requirements for exercise.)
What is the scientific basis for wearing a face mask while exercising to prevent the spread of COVID? There is none! This rule is dumb, the people who made it are dumb, and someone should be held accountable for making it a law.
Face to face classes are still banned in the Philippines which is bad for both students and teachers. One teacher has found a novel way of dealing with this problem.
 |
| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1153257 |
A ninth-grade teacher in Iloilo province wants to make sure he will recognize all his 40 students even if face-to-face classes remain suspended once the new academic year begins on September 13.
Jessie Comprendio, adviser of Grade 9-Blueberry of the Calinog National Comprehensive High School, placed photos of his learners on chairs.
It was during the middle of August when he started to gather pictures of his students through their online group chat.
He also asked for the parents’ consent for their children to submit their photos.
"We are still on blended learning so while organizing the modules on their respective chairs, I could still see the faces of my students," the 42-year-old Comprendio said in Hiligaynon during an interview with the Philippine News Agency (PNA) on Saturday.
Should they happen to meet outside the campus, he could easily recognize them, he said.
When parents go to the classroom on Monday to pick up learning modules, they will only have to look for the chair with their child's photo.
It's neat and creative but if it weren't for this ridiculous situation Duterte is keeping the country in then it would not be necessary to do.
No comments:
Post a Comment