Corona virus Metro Manila

All Metro Manila is in lockdown as of March15th to April 14th

The Philippine Government document on the "Community Quarantine" of Metro Manila is Resolution No. 11, Series of 2020, dated March 12, 2020. And it will become an Executive Order on March 13, 2020.

The gist of the Resolution is about "Stringent Social Distancing Measures" which will take effect for 30 days starting March 15, 2020.  This will involve, among others,

1. Suspension of classes until April 12, 2020
2. Prohibiting of mass gatherings
3. Community quarantine
4. Work at the Executive branch of government will be suspended.
5. Businesses are advised to continue operating, but still follow guidelines on social distancing.
6. Mass transportation will still be in operation, but will have to follow guidelines on social distancing.

Community quarantine, from what I understand, will mean that land, sea and air travel to and from certain local government units (LGU) or areas  will be banned (but there will be exceptions).

Metro Manila will be placed under community quarantine.

Outside Metro Manila:

A barangay will be placed under community quarantine if there are at least 2 cases of Covid-19 from 2 different households.

A city or municipality will be placed under community quarantine if there are at least 2 barangays in that city or municipality are already under community quarantine.

An entire province will be placed under community quarantine if there are 2 cities or municipalities in that province which are already under community quarantine.

We should keep calm, and wait for the specifics of Resolution 11 and of social distancing.

I'm not sure how much this will affect me or my family. The kids will not have classes until after this quarantine period. So, I'll have to wait when they will have their final exams, if ever they will have one. But definitely, they will have to stay at home or, at the farthest, within our subdivision, for the time being. I'm still thinking about what to do with regards to their private piano and violin lessons.

I have a seminar to be held early April 2020 in Ortigas. So, that will probably get rescheduled.

I guess my employees who live within Metro Manila can still go to work if they want. But for 2 of my workers who live in Bulacan, I don't know if they will be allowed to enter Metro Manila. I read somewhere there will be checkpoints. (Not so sure how this works.)  I think checkpoints would be contrary to "social distancing" since there would probably a lot of people waiting in line at checkpoints. So I'd rather have my 2 workers from Bulacan stay at their home, and offer them some financial assistance.

Keep calm everyone. 

It appears this lock down may create more problems than the virus. For example my wife & I use "Grab" for our transportation. My main diet comes from S&R, while the rest of the family diet comes from the markets.

Our income is guaranteed, but what about the millions & millions that work for a living?

Now I'm not complaining, our problems will be small.

Also the millions of 'OFW' workers : In the event they start loosing their jobs overseas (due to worldwide recession possibility!) & then start returning home, that may have grave 'social' problems & we need to seriously look at our security just being here!

manwonder wrote:

that may have grave 'social' problems &

there is a plan for that in place

Philippine Destiny wrote:

manwonder wrote:

that may have grave 'social' problems &

there is a plan for that in place

I'd be terrified to know about that "plan"

manwonder wrote:

Philippine Destiny wrote:

manwonder wrote:

that may have grave 'social' problems &

there is a plan for that in place

I'd be terrified to know about "that plan"

if you are away from a large city be happy for at least that

How will social distancing work for mass transit?

Yesterday (Friday) we went to S&R by "Grab". Talking to the driver he has heard nothing about "Grab" shutting down.

My observation looking out the window it seemed like a normal Friday afternoon. We live in Pasig City and the S&R is in Pasig City.

S&R was busier than usual. Shopping cart traffic jams in the aisles. Our home was & is well stocked. I usually spend 15,000 php, yesterday I spent about 18,000 php. I bought two 25 kilo of S&R rice one for my daughter in laws parents & the other for he maids family.

My wife prefers her own brand of rice $$$, that's what I get with a wife that lived in Las Vegas for 10+ years, she also misses her Lexus 330. She has three Kitchen Aid Mixers, two new in in unopened boxes, of course a purse collection, the real deal, not some fake from Greenhills.

We usually have a list, but we didn't need much as we shopped last week at S&R and  a grocery store in Pioneer Plaza. But we bought extra in case we have to hunker down to April 12. The only thing that we could not find was sardines, we buy it by the case and have a case already, we wanted to buy a case for daughter in laws parents and one for the maids family.

Besides S&R being busy, there must have been about 15/20 trucks lined up to be unloaded, usually there are 4/5.

We too notice that all the "low cost" local food staples especially sardines do run out very fast & same items that are re-stocked the prices seem to have increased exponentially.

The price of my White Castle burgers dropped 100 php.

W9XR wrote:

The price of my White Castle burgers dropped 100 php.

...you are lucky!...no local demand
for those *higher priced items!

I just got back into the States, via Manila to Honolulu. They are checking temps (in Manila, not here in US lol..)  I moved my scheduled departure up by three weeks and feel fortunate to have made it through before any further lockdowns interrupted my trip, like the one in Manila. 

Cebu just closed the schools and will probably lock down soon. I see timely action happening there, and strong moves to prevent  community spread, good thing as it will be bad if it gets out of control.  We are fully stocked there with food, water, meds, etc.

The administration here is finally waking up to the seriousness of the situation and taking emergency steps.. they are at least a month late to prevent significant spread though. Hardly any testing has been done due to lack of urgency and coordination between feds, agencies and states.

Our news here is that when at least two test positivefor coronavirus  in a barangay that barangay goes into quarantine.

Right. As long as people are tested so they know how many have it. That's the weak link. Here the answer is NO.. there is a lack of test kits and the process is totally inconsistent and confusIng.

pnwcyclist wrote:

Right. As long as people are tested so they know how many have it. That's the weak link. Here the answer is NO.. there is a lack of test kits and the process is totally inconsistent and confusIng.

Agreed as mentioned : only 2000 or so test kits currently in stock locally!
They better replenish stocks asap!

pnwcyclist wrote:

Right. As long as people are tested so they know how many have it. That's the weak link. Here the answer is NO.. there is a lack of test kits and the process is totally inconsistent and confusIng.

remember

there are no accidents

esp when it comes to the US

and keep this in mind

Philippines has 2,000 test kits for 100 million people

[link under review]

How does anyone, other than China,  control the movement of 12 million people?

Anyone out there need a visa or visa extension will have problems getting one with skeleton staff government agencies.

Grab, I have seen their statement about closing down in Manila but not other cities.

manwonder wrote:

pnwcyclist wrote:

Right. As long as people are tested so they know how many have it. That's the weak link. Here the answer is NO.. there is a lack of test kits and the process is totally inconsistent and confusIng.

Agreed as mentioned : only 2000 or so test kits currently in stock locally!
They better replenish stocks asap!

80,000 people die from flu and Pneumonia every year in Philippines.

The treatments for that kind of illness are essentially the same as for coronavirus.

They don't need a test to execute that treatment.

The testing is for knowing when to start quarantine.

Quarantine can be based upon symptoms when no test is available. Worst case is preemptive quarantine, which might actually be a positive.

Test kit is nice to have, but not vitally important to undertake action.

AaronAardvark wrote:

How does anyone, other than China,  control the movement of 12 million people?

Anyone out there need a visa or visa extension will have problems getting one with skeleton staff government agencies.

Grab, I have seen their statement about closing down in Manila but not other cities.

five million people were able to get out of Wuhan AFTER the problems began with the virus

so apparently no one is able to control it

manwonder wrote:

pnwcyclist wrote:

Right. As long as people are tested so they know how many have it. That's the weak link. Here the answer is NO.. there is a lack of test kits and the process is totally inconsistent and confusIng.

Agreed as mentioned : only 2000 or so test kits currently in stock locally!
They better replenish stocks asap!

Correction : it was just increased to 6000pcs (this week).
Still far short of what is required!
Singapore has >100,000 kits for a small population of <6million.

Korea is the democratic model, imho.

They are not completely stopping travel in and out of Manila (from info I am getting). You can get in/out but must prove you live/work in/out of the city. If you have a fever then you don't get in, but you get taken to the hospital.

If anyone has a different experience please post.

Best to hanker down!

Governor of Ohio is saying he thinks they have 100,000 people with coronavirus in his state. See? they "want people to feel" the urgency.

manwonder wrote:

Best to hanker down!

We went out Tuesday to do our hoarding.

I did not think it was enough so went back yesterday for more.

I don't think we have enough so tomorrow again.

And we are doing it for a couple of others here around us.

Until this thing gets into our province I will probably keep going out to haul in more.

Philippine Destiny wrote:

They are not completely stopping travel in and out of Manila (from info I am getting). You can get in/out but must prove you live/work in/out of the city. If you have a fever then you don't get in, but you get taken to the hospital.

If anyone has a different experience please post.

This is exactly why I may not risk taking my flight to Singapore next week!....They too have v.strict protocols in place for arriving passengers!
(Don't want to get stuck!)

manwonder wrote:

Philippine Destiny wrote:

They are not completely stopping travel in and out of Manila (from info I am getting). You can get in/out but must prove you live/work in/out of the city. If you have a fever then you don't get in, but you get taken to the hospital.

If anyone has a different experience please post.

This is exactly why I may not risk taking my flight to Singapore next week!....They too have v.strict protocols in place for arriving passengers!
(Don't want to get stuck!)

The problem I see potentially with the methodology they are using comes in to play if coronavirus really is capable of being spread asymptomatically. They can get past the temp checks.

But think about this, asymptomatic technically means they have the virus in their system but not in sufficient quantity to cause illness. Being able to spread it asymptomatically is a different question from being about to carry it asymptomatically - which I think is 100% happening.

But then their is another issue. What if it is not in their system yet and they are only transporting it on some item? Like even their clothing? Or their own skin?

this is why when you do a quarantine  it cannot be 100% effective if it is 99% adhered to.

manwonder wrote:

We too notice that all the "low cost" local food staples especially sardines do run out very fast & same items that are re-stocked the prices seem to have increased exponentially.

My wife went to the local market today ( to pick up green peppers) for Philly Cheese Steak sandwiches and Sunday morning omelettes. Three small green peppers 110 php. The store owner said business was off because nobody had any money.

Also, yesterday,  S&R finally had Provolone  Cheese $$$ for the Philly Cheese Steak and Ricotta Cheese for Lasagna. We have been looking for Provolone & Ricotta for several months.

Nice...I'm getting hungry!!!

I bought up all of the black olives and kidney beans imported from Italy. May never see them again.

I looked around the liquor section for a substitute for hand sanitizer. Nothing like everclear to be found. All useless 80 proof stuff that, although it will increase your popularity, it will not do much good for anything else.

Philippine Destiny wrote:

I bought up all of the black olives and kidney beans imported from Italy. May never see them again.

I looked around the liquor section for a substitute for hand sanitizer. Nothing like everclear to be found. All useless 80 proof stuff that, although it will increase your popularity, it will not do much good for anything else.

Yup I'd rather stay unpopular here!

https://cnnphilippines.com/news/2020/3/ … cases.html

>100 infections & counting!

Philippine Destiny wrote:

I looked around the liquor section for a substitute for hand sanitizer.  All useless 80 proof stuff that,

Wild Turkey is 101 proof, I learned it the hard way, many years ago as a teenager.

Candy is Dandy, but Liquor is Quicker !

W9XR wrote:

Philippine Destiny wrote:

I looked around the liquor section for a substitute for hand sanitizer.  All useless 80 proof stuff that,

Wild Turkey is 101 proof, I learned it the hard way, many years ago as a teenager.

Candy is Dandy, but Liquor is Quicker !

Many years ago I saw a bottle of Bacardi 151 in the store. That stuff is 75.5% alcohol. Bacardi stopped making it due to lawsuits I guess.

To be effective supposedly the alcohol needs to be at least 140 proof. I have not seen anything close to that around here in years.

Wild Turkey was a favorite of mine with Dr Pepper back in the day.

My god, we are all going to perish and languish in hell and you guys are talking about black olives, imported kidney beans and provolone cheese. LOL

Munchie wrote:

My god, we are all going to perish and languish in hell and you guys are talking about black olives, imported kidney beans and provolone cheese. LOL

Perish . . . . . . I don't think so.

Languish in hell. . . . . I don't think so.

While you're languishing in hell. . . . . . I will be enjoying my Cheese Stake Hoagie  with a Sam Miguel. 

My biggest problem today is where do I find decent sour cream, In and Out burgers,  $1 Cigars, or a draw poker machine in a Manila Casino, not reserving a place in hell.

Munchie, I hope you will not perish and languish in hell.

W9XR wrote:

Munchie wrote:

My god, we are all going to perish and languish in hell and you guys are talking about black olives, imported kidney beans and provolone cheese. LOL

Perish . . . . . . I don't think so.

Languish in hell. . . . . I don't think so.

While you're languishing in hell. . . . . . I will be enjoying my Cheese Stake Hoagie  with a Sam Miguel. 

My biggest problem today is where do I find decent sour cream, In and Out burgers,  $1 Cigars, or a draw poker machine in a Manila Casino, not reserving a place in hell.

W9XR...Shit...I'm feeling hungry again!