My impression is the Philippines are doing all they can at this point, based on my limited knowledge and I am glad of it. Maybe we can make it through this.

 

That is perfectly true. Healthy people have died after vaccination - for Covid and other diseases. And in the case of a new set of vaccines the long-term effects are totally unknown.

So you have to balance that partially known and unknown risk against the risk of getting the disease. You have to consider your vulnerability (age, other illnesses, exposure risks) and the risk of serious illness or death from the disease if you get infected.

No-one can answer that question for you - it is a perfectly individual decision based on your own risk assessment (and we all assess risks differently).

There is the dimension of helping society by being part of a herd immunity - but, again, you personally have to weigh that against your own interest.

People risk assess in many areas of life - from sports to travelling to drinking to smoking, etc. There is nothing wrong in considering every aspect and making a decision you feel comfortable with - and then changing it at any time you wish. Personal freedom.

 

I agree it could be offensive to some and is needlessly so; being called stupid would be offensive to most, and is even more needless.

 

I have noticed in most places the social distancing enforcement a bit lacking, checkout queues are worst, i think most people maybe have a fear that if they are not 6" from the person in front that they might lose their place in the queue.

 

This is common to many diseases. For example, we all hear those who defend smoking (a personal choice anyway as long as not affecting others) telling us they know someone age 90 who smoked 50 a day. On that basis they say all this talk of lung and other respiratory diseases , heart disease and other cancers being caused by smoking is nonsense. In fact that one person they quote had something(s) within their body which prevented the 7000 chemical produced by smoking causing them any known illness - it is possibly certain DNA mutations in their cells. Btw, those who give such an example have no idea if the person would have lived to be 120 if a non-smoker!

So, similarly, people who are asymptomatic for Covid-19 may be so because:
1. They were affected by a strain less dangerous - there is more than one strain circulating. This strain could become more dominant over a period of time and help reduce the impact of the disease.
2. The virus mutated slightly within the host they caught it from and made it less dangerous. This produces another new strain less contagious or lethal and so may again become dominant. One way to make a vaccine for some diseases is to continue to pass it through cells, such as in chicken foetuses, until it weakens. It still can produce antibodies but does not kill the vaccinated person.
3. The asymptomatic has some genetic makeup which enables them to resist the effects of the disease, even though it entered their cells and produced an immune response.
4. Similarly, the asymptomatic had less of an immune response - this may seem counter-intuitive but the way the body responds to a disease can be more damaging than the disease itself. @Tubacoma pointed this out a long time ago in a posting about the cytokine response. Also, I quote this piece from Wikipedia "Cytokine storms are also suspected to be the main cause of death in the 1918 "Spanish Flu" pandemic. Deaths were weighted more heavily towards people with healthy immune systems, because of their ability to produce stronger immune responses, with dramatic increases in cytokine levels"
5. Some people are classed as 'asymptomatic' when they have a very mild infection that is not picked up by current tests. Some may even go on to produce symptoms - so those 'asymptomatics' were really 'pre-symptomatics.
6. Very little is known about Covid-19 and a fuller answer to your question may become apparent in the future!

But whether or not people can benefit from this (apart from the herd immunity it may help produce) depends on if it is purely genetic in a person's makeup and if that genetic makeup is producing some response which can be manufactured or induced in other people. Or there may be something experts learn that is of great use to others.

 

Author
Radyo Bandera Sweet FM - Dumaguete #FYI
Executive Order Follows.

Here are new developments as per Provincial IATF collective decision effective May 20, 2020, re:

1. Selling of liquor and other alcoholic beverages is now allowed. Drinking in public places remains strictly prohibited.

2. Sale of the foregoing products is allowed from 9AM to 5PM only. The Local Government Units throughout the Province especially the Barangays have to strictly monitor the implementation of this measure with the assistance of the PNP and the AFP. Selling before and after this period would be dealt with accordingly.

3. Merchandise delivery of liquor and alcoholic beverage products, and cigarettes to warehouses for "stocking", and stores for "retailing" is already allowed.

4. Drinking Bars and Pubs are still closed. Drinking of liquor or any alcoholic beverages inside these establishments is strictly not allowed under any circumstances.

For this purpose, the public is enjoined to properly follow the Guidelines.

Thank you.

BY AUTHORITY OF THE GOVERNOR:

Bimbo G. Miraflor
Provincial Information Office

 

As a side issue - I along with others have been quite critical of the provincial government here, on this forum, on the way they have handled things. In particular, the clear danger in allowing OFWs and SLIs into the province from infected areas, which predictably has lead to the recent positive cases and potential wider virus spread.

I commented on this yesterday on their fb page and late last night received a reply. I was commenting on their belated plea to the NIATF in Manila to be allowed to impose stricter testing and quarantine measures on incoming citizens and I was critical of them for not foreseeing the problem until too late. I received replies from two individuals, neither of whom stated they were provincial government officials, but both seemed remarkably informed and used very good English for locals. Their defence was that the conditions on entry were dictated by the NIATF (hence the plea to them) and also that Manila had effectively 'deceived' the local officials by claiming that some OFWs were LSIs and this lead to them not being properly prepared for their receipt. They also accused NIATF of effectively just playing a game with numbers. After all, it matters not to officials in Manila whether an infected individual potentially spreads virus in Manila or the provinces.

Whilst I struggle to understand what the difference is between a potential virus carrying OFW or LSI is on entering the province, this does look like a more complex situation than I understood it to be. I thanked them for their honesty and wished them success for their plans.