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Pat you could teach her to turn that corn into bourbon. It might be more palatable.
Sugar is considered a spice in the Philippines.

 

It did John, I had a stroke, Not as bad as a very good friend of mine but enough to Finish My Career and Forced Retirement 1 year early, sometimes it is pointless dwelling on things because in my case I never saw it coming

 

Since testing for Covid has largely been abandoned, the reported number of cases is no longer the statistic to watch (if it ever was). What is still a reliable stat though (even if it's only the tip of the iceberg), is the number of people in hospital because of covid.
View attachment upload_2022-10-24_7-30-37.png

What this chart shows is a big increase in the last month in many countries in Europe. Luckily the number of people in intensive care has not increased much at all, but still, one has to be pretty seriously ill to get admitted to a hospital.

Then there is another reliable stat, even without tests of individuals, which is the infection level found in sewage. Sadly I can't find a chart with an international comparison, but the chart for the Netherlands below shows the same increase as the one for hospital admissions above.

View attachment upload_2022-10-24_7-42-33.png

Does this mean we should return to wearing a mask all the time?
My personal opinion is that no, it doesn't seem wise for society as a whole to return to the previous levels of restrictions on people, especially since a large majority has been vaccinated. However, especially if one has a weakened immune system, it would be smart to still wear a mask in crowded places and indoor settings.
Moreover, it is still possible (although it doesn't seem very likely) that a new variant pops up that will turn out to evade vaccine immunity and spread like wildfire and make people really ill.
Personally I hope that masks will remain mandatory in schools, in shops and indoor venues.

 

Tuesday morning 8 am my 20 yr old daughter and helper took a rented van to the Sibulan city hall basketball court. About 125 and 10 senior were already there queued up on rows of chairs. There was paperwork to be filled out before being advanced to one of the front desks. It was musical chairs till it was your turn at one of the desks. Everyone was there to receive Moderna even though the paperwork said AstraZeneca. Blood pressure checked and answer a few questions and the doctor would give you a partially filled out Covid 19 Vaccination Card which you would give to the nurses giving the shots. The nurses had staff to enter the vaccine serial number, date and signature. You get the ID back and more filled in Covid 19 Vaccination Card. You turn in the Covid 19 Vaccination Card to be embossed and verified before entering into computer. You are told to take a seat and they would call your name at the end of the 30 minute waiting period to see if you were having adverse reactions to the vaccine. When they call your name blood pressure checked again and told when to return for the second shot.

The total time taken about 1 3/4 hrs.

If you are needing a second shot, your local Covid Hotline is your friend and will give the latest information on what you need to complete your two shot regimen.

My daughter and I go back November 4th for the second shot and July of next year for a booster.

If you live in Sibulan the hotline number to call is 035 523 6004.

shakey

 

My favorite is the Filipina Pea "Telling it like it is".

She covers the expat filipina relationship issues well. She has also done interviews with her friend who is an attorney covering legal issues here.

This is her YouTube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrm4tEQqTrUP3MwB2G1mjHw

 

Yes, many Filipinos are very wary of being vaccinated because of the Dengue vaccine issue.

I read the articles - the one by Dr Bossche is quite heavy going (and I read it at midnight) - and I can see what he is getting at. However, his alternative solution is stated by the reviewers as having no evidence to back it up.

Although I am a virologist I am out of the game now and so take an interest in the current pandemic but don't read many articles - it will be like the 'salt is good/salt is bad/salt is good/salt is bad' charades we have all been through (and we can substitute many other products for 'salt' in that).

If the virus gets near the point of wiping out the human race (and how much better our planet would be!) it will be self-limiting. The chances of total devastation from THIS virus is very low - unless it combines with another virus possessing certain qualities!

A piece of evidence we have is that highly vaccinated countries (e.g. UK) appear to be having some resurgence but at a much lower rate than before vaccination. So having a highly-vaccinated population but still remaining cautious seems the best way forward. Controversial I know, BUT... it means vaccinating the World.

I am waiting before being vaccinated to see if any side-effects arise in the longer term!

 

It is starting to spread faster here. The local news calls it a surge. The authorities screwed up.

Previously, things had settled down here and in other remote provinces. These provinces required 14 day quarantine for all travelers to the province. This kept the variants out. The community's response was sufficient to suppress the reproduction rate of the original virus.

The modern variants are more contagious and spread faster. They have a higher reproduction rate known as R0. It made sense to increase the restrictions on arrivals to Manila from foreign countries in an effort to keep the variants out of the country.

The problem is that while more contagious variants were raging in other countries, the national leadership decided to open up travel within the Philippines. It was decided that local provinces did not have the authority to require the 14 day quarantine on travelers within the country. It was determined that only the national Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) had this authority. The IATF required all of the provinces to allow travel within the Philippines without requiring a 14 day quarantine. The local LGU still had the authority but this was not useful when the next door LGU allowed travel in without quarantine. Then they stopped the requirement to have a PCR test before arrival to a province.

Sure enough in time the more contagious variants found their way to Manila and the contagion is exploding there. Hospitals are running out of resources. Meanwhile sick people have been freely traveling from Manila to the provinces.

The worst part is that now having allowed the more contagious variants free travel to the Provinces there is a move in Manila to not distribute the vaccines evenly throughout the country and instead focus vaccine distribution on the NCR region. Meanwhile sick people can freely travel and transmit the variants to the provinces.

Luckily the original number of infected people here was small so it will take awhile for the doubling to get out of hand. Meanwhile the authorities seem to be ignorant of the future impacts of having a more contagious variant in the province. In time this more contagious variant will grow the contagion until it is out of control here in the provinces too.

https://www.cebm.net/covid-19/when-...tion-to-viral-reproduction-numbers-r0-and-re/