By Herbert Vego
GIVEN the opportunity, Mayor Jerry P. Treñas would have re-opened Iloilo City to “business as usual” because it is the only way he could fulfill his promise to “level up”.
We share his apprehension that business establishments that have padlocked as a precaution against the spread of the coronavirus might no longer re-open, their customers having opted to stay at home.
Common sense tells us we don’t have to wait for a Chinese vaccine to deal with COVID. If the disease were so fatal, then why have the majority of 48.5 million cases worldwide recovered? The running “worldometer” of the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that it has killed only 1.2 million of them.
Surprisingly, we have yet to be informed by health authorities on how the majority of COVID victims have fought and defeated the disease.
The Philippines’ total share of cases as of yesterday was 388,137. But only 7,367 Filipinos have died of COVID.
That is nothing compared to the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 which killed 50 million. Google-search n’yo bala.
Adding insult to injury are fake news that fan more flames of panic, occasionally coming from the Department of Health (DOH) itself. Yesterday, for instance, the mayor cited a grave error emanating from the DOH website. It reported that the city had incurred 41 new COVID-19 cases, therefore the “5th highest in the country.” But there were actually only two cases that erupted on Tuesday.
As corrected by the Iloilo City Covid-19 Emergency Operations Center (EOC), the number of average daily cases has diminished from 46 in Oct 1-25, 2020 to 22 cases from Oct 26-Nov 1.
The DOH is doing nothing to dispute the myth that dead victims of the disease have to be cremated within 12 hours. We have yet to see Muslims cremating, instead of burying, their dead; cremation is not allowed in Islam.
But here’s what the World Health Organization wrote in its March 24, 2020 “Guidelines on Infection Prevention and Safe Management of a Dead Body”:
“Except in cases of hemorrhagic fevers, dead bodies are generally not infectious. Otherwise, cadavers do not transmit disease. It is a common myth that persons who have died of a communicable disease should be cremated, but this is not true. Cremation is a matter of cultural choice and available resources.”
If I have refused to join the “bandwagon” waiting for the availability of a vaccine before calming down, it’s because the wait could cause stress. All doctors agree that stress weakens the immune system, which is our best defense against COVID at the moment.
The little we know so far is that coronavirus may only be spread from a person’s saliva or phlegm in the form of droplets entering somebody else’s mouth, nose or eyes. This is the logic behind wearing mask, physical distancing, disinfecting hands with alcohol and washing them with soap and water.
The universally-accepted lockdown – or community quarantine which restricts movement of people – stems from the idea that COVID could be “asymptomatic” or showing no symptoms like cough, fever, diarrhea or colds. Hence, an asymptomatic carrier does not know he has it and is capable of infecting others.
Cong. Janette Garin (1st District, Iloilo), a former Health secretary, has been referring to various studies saying that 40 to 50 percent of COVID-19 cases are asymptomatic.
Was Education secretary Leonor Briones, 79, asymptomatic when she tested positive while feeling well last April? She has never developed symptoms up to this day.
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WHEN A TYPHOON IS COMING
MORE Power and Electric Corp. (MORE Power) has prepared the following guidelines on how to deal with any stormy weather system:
- Expect power outages, charge all gadgets; cell phones, tablet, laptops and other gadgets for communication.
- Use them wisely. Avoid unnecessary calls. Use SMS. Expect weak or no signal as cell sites may be down.
- Replace batteries on your flashlights and make sure to keep a spare for prolonged brownouts;
- Your AM/FM battery-operated radios may be your best source for news.
- Relieve your refrigerators and freezers as power may be off for a few days. You have now until Sunday evening to do it. Consume food items that spoil easily.
- Have your LPGs ready and refill your spare tanks.
- Have an adequate supply of drinking water and fill pails for your bathroom use.
- Preparing for destructive winds
- Dismantle all temporary structures.
- Keep safe all items outside of the house especially in your dirty kitchens.
- Empty your sampayans.
- Reinforce your plants.
- Secure all unstable items in your open garage and garden.
- If needed, reinforce unsteady roofing like polycarbonate by placing hollow blocks or sand bags on top.
- Cover windows and doors.
- Remove or roll down billboards and tarpaulins.
- Prepare an emergency kit.
