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Midnight Flights From Manila-Cebu and Bohol Causing our Covid-19 Cases to Increase

Discussion in 'COVID-19' started by shakey, Jul 27, 2020.

  1. shakey

    shakey DI Member Veteran Navy

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    Midnight Flights From Manila-Cebu and Bohol Causing our Covid-19 Cases to Increase and causing havoc at quarantine hotels.

    Since the Sibulan/Dumaguete airport is the only one in Negor, we get those stranded in Manila who are transported by PAL Express with additional stops in Cebu and as needed in Bohol before continuing to Dumaguete, landing after midnight. Stranded individuals could be from Manila, Cebu or Bohol in any mixture replacing those getting off with those needing to escape Dumaguete and get to Manila. It is not evident who has Covid-19 as they wait in line.

    In the best of times you could book a flight and a quarantine hotel ahead of time, like you are supposed to, and your local LGU would meet you in full PPE to deliver you to the local quarantine facility or hotel who would be awaiting in full PPE.

    In these chaotic times it is impossible to follow any rules and plan ahead because you don't know when you are going to get a flight and to book a hotel for certain days.

    A local 4 star hotel is bewildered if 30-50 stranded passengers are dumped into their lobby after midnight and their employees were not alerted to don their PPE and not order enough food to feed them.

    Local health clinics like Sibulan are having to close after treating the two small boys brought from Manila who tested for Covid-19. PPE usage by health professionals is the new normal.

    shakey aka John
     
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  2. Notmyrealname

    Notmyrealname DI Forum Luminary Highly Rated Poster Showcase Reviewer

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    With what you wrote here and what @shabbynomad70 wrote recently about crowding within the market and lack of face masks there, only a fool will think it is now safe outside.
     
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  3. Notmyrealname

    Notmyrealname DI Forum Luminary Highly Rated Poster Showcase Reviewer

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    Further to what you wrote, this is what happened before the flights:

    https://www.cnnphilippines.com/news/2020/7/27/Rizal-Stadium-LSI-send-off-COVID-19-.html

    A few points:

    Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 27) — At least eight locally-stranded individuals who availed of the government's massive send-off over the weekend have tested positive for COVID-19 via rapid tests, an official confirmed on Monday.... and are set to undergo a confirmatory swab test.

    ... The Health Department is tracing people the patients came in contact with inside the crammed Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.

    Thousands of locally-stranded individuals, mostly from the Visayas and Mindanao, were gathered in the stadium on July 25 and 26 to avail of the government-initiated "Hatid Tulong" program. They were placed inside the stadium — where rules on the wearing of masks and physical distancing were not observed — while awaiting transportation back to their hometowns.
     
  4. jim787

    jim787 DI Senior Member

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    In addition, I did not save the posting, but Dumaguete Tourist Office relayed an individual's report that an arriving flight was not met by D of Health personnel. There was no indication of what happened after with the LSI passengers.
     
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  5. Show Pony

    Show Pony DI Forum Patron Highly Rated Poster Showcase Reviewer

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    The DOH/LGU accepting the LSI should have been at the airport but.......

    To get on a repatriation flight there is a lengthy procedure. Besides all the testing requirements. The LSI needs a letter from their LGU accepting them. Once the administration paperwork is complete the LSI has to get their DOH (LGU) to call Dumaguete Tourism Office to put the LSI on the list of approved passengers. Then off to Philippines Airlines to buy a ticket.

    It sounds like someone from an LGU forgot to show up at the airport.

    At the Dumaguete Airport the DOH/DOT are very strict. My neighbor arrived a few weeks ago. The Dauin LGU/DOH driver wanted to take my neighbor and someone home and return for the rest of the passengers. They could not get out of the airport until all the LSI were in the van.

    Someone probably ended up waiting at the airport for a longtime until the LGU/DOH showed up.
     
    Last edited: Jul 27, 2020
  6. jim787

    jim787 DI Senior Member

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    Yes, very strict procedures--on paper. And in reality there is the horrible situation in Rizal Stadium.
     
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  7. jim787

    jim787 DI Senior Member

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    I feel so sorry for those people, most of them I suppose returned workers from abroad. As I understand the Inquirer report, many showed up uninvited, desperate to qualify for a flight to their home province. Okay, their own fault. But Rizal Stadium is the nation's only baseball stadium because you can check tickets and control entrance.
     
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