Best Posts in Forum: COVID-19

It is a very long article to say that people who live in places with polluted air have more risk of pulmonary disease (!), either as a direct result of the noxious particles in the air or a greater risk from catching lung (and other) diseases because their lung (and other) tissue is damaged and/or their general health is impaired. It impacts on the lungs, heart, blood vessels and almost every, if not all, organs and tissues of the body - it even impacts on pregnancy. I have to say that this is a very well known fact by scientists and non-scientists alike - probably just about the most well-known fact.

As for reductions in air-pollution in China, I think you confuse 'cause and effect' - air pollution dropped principally because factories closed.

Of course if we had no air pollution then fewer people would die of any illness or disease linked to air pollution.

 

I am fine now thanks.
Regarding my experience i am glad to say that i haven't had much previous inpatient stays either here or in the UK and the ones that i did have were a long time ago so i don't have much to go on but i will give you my opinion on the pros and cons of Polymedic.
PROS
Large onsite parking area as oppose to Silliman and Holy child.
New building and all equipment, AC and elevators in working order.
Food was edible.
Cafe onsite with brewed coffee.
Most of all i survived it

CONS
Very far from where we live.
Cafe not open 24 hrs so nightshift watcher had to bring her food in as nothing in the area selling food.
Most uncomfortable bed i have ever slept or tried to sleep in, metal frame with 2 inch thick mattress.
Sleep depravation as apart from the aprox 2 hourly visits for vital signs and medication there would be visits to tell this was the new shift change nurse or to get a signature that could have waited until morning.
And this is most important, at the initial consultation i asked the doctor for an aprox price but the final bill was 50% more than his estimate.

All said and done i would use Polymedic again for any future problems but next time i might try to nail them down to a more accurate price estimate, at the end of the day if you need the treatment then you have to accept the price.

 

A 'rock' called being an Honours graduate in virology.

I think this article, whether from the BBC or whomsoever, excellently correlated information which may have been published already but is very scattered. Articles such as the one I used put information together from various sources to save people doing hours of online research and if a person does not know what to seek then they will never find it. It seems that would not apply to you as you already know it ALL.

Btw, I wrote this to inform those who are interested.

 

It bothers me, some of these stories. The article doesn't give any hard data to back up their opinion.
Yesterday there was an article on a CNN website basically saying "The Sky is Falling" They describe the horrible situation where health care workers in Indonesia have been infected with Covid even after vaccination with Sinovac. What they didn't mention in the story was that about 150K health care workers had been vaccinated. It seems 6 health care workers died, one of them had only 1 jab. The story did mention they have the Delta variant which I believe is more serious.

A story in Bloomberg (about a month ago) said Sinovac was 55% effective at preventing covid and 97% effective in preventing serious cases requiring hospitalization.
I thought that was pretty good.(?). If there are only "dozens" of health care workers in hospital and 6 dead out of 150K people that sounds pretty impressive to me. Especially considering they have the Delta variant (they are a little vague on that detail). Here's the CNN link: https://edition.cnn.com/2021/06/18/asia/vaccinated-indonesian-doctors-covid-19-intl-hnk/index.html?utm_medium=social&utm_content=2021-06-19T07:00:07&utm_source=fbCNNi&utm_term=link&fbclid=IwAR2fXIE4f8QSyqn7Ay7p0NTTga9R3L6ANJf8vKfRclwGHEW1hG4nTrOAOGw

For my self I will take my second jab of Sinovac sometime next week and wait until something better becomes available. Hopefully more will be known about mixing different vaccines soon.

There is so much garbage reporting going on right now it's hard to know who or what to believe.

 

Check this thread for information about travel from Dumaguete to Manila
https://dumagueteinfo.com/board/threads/domestic-travel.59349/
and this announcement about flights http://dumaguetecity.gov.ph/2020/09...hts-a-week/?utm_source=DI&utm_medium=referral

However, it would appear to me that it is really more of an issue of communication between you and your wife than lack of information.
Please consider carefully that your wife might be scared to travel at this time, especially if she doesn't have a visa yet to travel to Italy.
If she would travel to Manila to apply for a visa and then return to Dumaguete to wait for the decision on the visa for Italy then she would need to be in quarantine for two weeks from the moment she arrives back in Dumaguete.
Moreover, she will need to get a covid test in Manila, and several documents before she can travel back to Dumaguete.
If she is not familiar with Manila then even just that might be a lot more scary at this time.
Manila is still considered a hotspot for Covid, with a lot of new cases every day.
Then the actual travel to Italy is another thing that might be scary to her, she may or may not have to quarantine upon arrival, I don't know.
If she has never traveled out of the Philippines before then that's a cause for concern even in normal times.

Your main issue might be however that currently no Filipino tourists are allowed to leave the Philippines.
Being married to you probably doesn't make a difference if she would be traveling on a tourist visa.
If she will apply for a visa to stay in Italy indefinitely then there might be a possibility to travel outside the country.
Your wife can inquire at the Bureau of Immigration in Dumaguete whether the travel restrictions also apply to her if she has a visa to stay in Italy indefinitely.

 

Since the start of covid i have done my best to keep as far away as possible from doctors, hospitals or dentists but a couple of weeks ago the inevitable happened and i had to see a doctor, first stop was Silliman where the doctor said i needed a small operation and the protocol was that on the day of admission i would have a test for covid and if the test is positive then i have to wait 7 weeks before it is safe to operate.
On the day of admission i had the test 3400 pesos had to wait 3 hours for the result which was positive, as i had no symptom's, my wife had no symptom's and the other 3 people who live at our house had no symptom's i suspected the result to be false.
I decided to get a second opinion so 2 days later i went to Ace and had another test 2600 pesos, had to wait until next day for the result which was negative.
The next day no doctors for my particular condition were available at Ace so i went to Polymedic, same deal there on the day of admission i had to have a test 660 pesos, the result took less than 1 hour and was negative so the operation went ahead.
I just want to pass this on to members to highlight the price range,
Silliman, swabbed one nostril, 3400 pesos - positive
Ace, swabbed both nostrils and back of tongue, 2600 pesos - negative
Polymedic, swabbed both nostrils, 660 pesos - negative

 

The final sentence of this article is of great interest, bearing in mind the proven ability of the virus to mutate.

https://cnnphilippines.com/news/202...-philippines-procurement-clinical-trials.html

COVID-19 vaccines: Where is PH in the procurement, clinical trials? By Eimor Santos, CNN Philippines, Jan 9, 2021

A few points from this article:

Authorities are in talks with around seven vaccine makers to secure 148 million doses, enough to inoculate up to 70 million people.

Officially, no vaccine has been delivered yet to the country to date, but the World Health Organization said in a January 6 media briefing, the country is “on track” in preparing for the rollout.

There are two ways vaccines could reach Filipinos. One is through procurement, which is being handled exclusively by the national government, although tripartite agreements can be entered into by the private sector and local government officials. The other is through phase 3 clinical trials.

Here’s a rundown of where the Philippines now stands on the road to vaccination:

In November 2020, the country sealed the deal for 2.6 million doses from UK's AstraZeneca through a private sector donation. These are expected to be delivered in June of this year, benefiting more than a million Filipinos, with healthcare workers and vulnerable sectors given priority. Half of the purchase will go to the government, while the other half will be used by the private sector, also for their frontliners.

Over 200 companies are expected to pitch in for a second batch, which would complete the targeted 5 million vaccine doses.

In another tripartite agreement, the Quezon City government purchased in advance 750,000 doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccines for its constituents.

Bacolod City said it has signed a "confidential" agreement with AstraZeneca - it has earmarked ₱300 million for the purchase of the vaccines.

The Food and Drug Administration is still reviewing AstraZeneca’s application for emergency use authorization, which would fast track the rollout of its vaccine in the country. US firm Pfizer and Russia’s Gamaleya Institute are also seeking EUA.

Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez, Jr. recently said the government is in the “advanced stages of negotiations” with Pfizer, Gamaleya, American pharmaceutical companies Novavax and Johnson and Johnson, and Chinese drugmaker Sinovac.

The Duterte administration believes Sinovac would be the first to supply the Philippines with up to 25 million doses by March or April 2021. It has a pending application for clinical trials.

The country will also receive "fully subsidized" COVID-19 vaccines for 22 million Filipinos through the COVAX facility, a global initiative led by the WHO along with the vaccine alliance Gavi and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations to ensure equitable access to safe and effective coronavirus vaccines.

An allegedly bungled deal with Pfizer, which boasts of a vaccine efficacy rate of 95%, would have ushered the arrival of 10 million doses this month - officials now estimate the supply to come in by mid-year.

Two other US firms, Moderna and Arcturus expressed willingness to send 4 million to 25 million vaccine doses beginning the third quarter, but this has not been put in paper.

Meanwhile, Filipinos could volunteer for clinical trials soon, after the FDA approved the applications of Janssen Pharmaceuticals Company, a US-based vaccine maker owned by Johnson & Johnson, and Clover Biopharmaceutical of China. These may start in the next few weeks after the vaccine experts panel identifies trial sites and participants are recruited.

Aside from these independent initiatives, the World Health Organization’s Solidarity Trial is slated for this month, but it remains unclear which vaccines it would test for efficacy. Galvez said it would enroll up to 15,000 volunteers, preferably from Metro Manila.

The country remains under varying levels of community quarantine – all face-to-face classes suspended, business operations limited, and work-from-home setup encouraged. It is banking on the vaccination program to further open the economy, but health protocols should still be followed as it may take three to five years to inoculate enough people to achieve herd immunity.

 

Imagine you were born in 1900.

When you're 14, World War I begins and ends when you're 18 with 22 million dead.

Soon after a global pandemic, the Spanish Flu, appears, killing 50 million people. And you're alive and 20 years old.

When you're 29 you survive the global economic crisis that started with the collapse of the New York Stock Exchange, causing inflation, unemployment and famine.

When you're 33 years old the Nazis come to power.

When you're 39, and your children are of military age, World War II begins and ends when you're 45 years old with a 60 million dead. In the Holocaust 6 million Jews die.

When you're 52, the Korean War begins.
When you're 64, and your grandchildren are eligible for the draft the Vietnam War begins and ends when you're 75.

A child born in 1985 thinks his great grandparents have no idea how difficult life is, but they have survived several wars and catastrophes.

Today we have all the comforts in a new world, amid a new pandemic. But we complain because we need to wear masks. We complain because we must stay confined to our homes where we have food, electricity, running water, wifi, even Netflix! None of that existed back in the day. But humanity survived those circumstances and never lost their joy of living.

A small change in our perspective can generate miracles. We should be thankful that we are alive. We should do everything we need to do to protect and help each other.