Current Expat Situation because of lockdown in Philippines?

This is beyond ridiculous.


https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2020 … ce-shields

And now for something completely hilarious

https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/na … ily/story/

?????


https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/na … ily/story/

jwschmidt wrote:

?????


https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/na … ily/story/

In other words, their losing it and are grasping at straws trying to minimize the virus.

They have so many rules in place already that they don't even bother to enforce. Even now after all of this time and the multiple lockdowns, I still people with no face masks, no social distancing, more then the allowed number in a group, kids out and about even with their parents. Just blatant disregard for the rules put in place. I guess the moral of the story is that unless their going to do something about the masses violating the current rules, adding new rules isn't going to have much affect.

I never see a news report that shows the PERCENTAGE of deaths per population. Philippines has a population of  107 million and the death toll is about 2,200  (Calculation history
2200 is what % of 107000000.00 = 0.00205607476635514%)
Is the math right????

Mhammond40 wrote:

I never see a news report that shows the PERCENTAGE of deaths per population. Philippines has a population of  107 million and the death toll is about 2,200  (Calculation history
2200 is what % of 107000000.00 = 0.00205607476635514%)
Is the math right????

Like

1 death out of every 48,636

Another way, you have 1,000 php after deaths you have 998 php.

So if we go deeper into lock down:  Face mask, face shield, hazmat suit, complete shower with disinfectant spray every six hours for every member in your household and your dwelling padlocked.

We now have 999 php.

All moot because nobody has the real number of actual deaths, who wants to go into Tondo and count the bodies?

jwschmidt wrote:

?????

https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/na … ily/story/

What the.....
Is Mr. Año going to police people inside their homes?

Mhammond40 wrote:

I never see a news report that shows the PERCENTAGE of deaths per population. Philippines has a population of  107 million and the death toll is about 2,200  (Calculation history
2200 is what % of 107000000.00 = 0.00205607476635514%)
Is the math right????

Like

This might help.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

Cheers, Steve.

jwschmidt wrote:

This is beyond ridiculous.


https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2020 … ce-shields

I would suppose this could only apply while inside the Philippines airspace. How could anyone wear these for a trans ocean flight of like 10-20 hours?

What's next, put a plastic bag over your head? 😵😷

That what you call 'the full Monty'  plastic rain coat/pants with a plastic bag over the head!

So far no indication of tighter restrictions in Cagayan de Oro, other than a required plastic shield between riders on a motorcycle. We'll see what happens starting 8/15.

Bloomberg News Just In :
Quote
The Philippines will unlikely keep its capital and nearby areas under strict lockdown despite coronavirus infections rising by another daily record to over 136,000.
The government has ran out of resources for aid to poor families, and has to allow people to go back to work, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said Tuesday. The two-week lockdown ending August 18 was declared to accommodate health workers who said hospitals were already getting overwhelmed, he said.
Unquote

manwonder wrote:

Bloomberg News Just In :
Quote
The Philippines will unlikely keep its capital and nearby areas under strict lockdown despite coronavirus infections rising by another daily record to over 136,000.
The government has ran out of resources for aid to poor families, and has to allow people to go back to work, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said Tuesday. The two-week lockdown ending August 18 was declared to accommodate health workers who said hospitals were already getting overwhelmed, he said.
Unquote

Oh crap.

From my travel agent. It has become beyond ridiculous and well into the realm of insanity.

Dear Travel Partners,

VISA REQUIREMENTS FOR FOREIGN SPOUSES, CHILDREN & PARENTS OF FILIPINO NATIONALS
Pursuant to Resolution No. 60 of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases, effective August 10, 2020 the following arriving passengers in the Philippines will have to apply for a single-entry visa from the Philippine Embassy or Consulate General Offices.
1.    Foreign spouses of Filipino citizens
2.    Foreign minor children and foreign children with special needs
3.    Foreign parents of minor Filipino children and Filipino children with special needs.
4.    Former Filipinos who have not reacquired Philippine citizenship or dual citizenship

Please contact the Philippine Embassy or the Philippine Consulate General Offices to make appointments. In Vancouver (604) 685-1619; Calgary (403) 455-9457; Toronto (416) 922-7181


ALL PASSENGERS MUST WEAR FACE SHIELDS AND FACE MASKS
Effective from August 15, 2020, flag carrier Philippine Airlines will require all passengers to wear face shields, on top of the mandatory face masks, in compliance with the Philippine Department of Transportation's latest guidelines for the public transport sector.

Passengers are required to wear masks and face shields in all phases of the flight.

Safety remains the cornerstone of PAL's operations. The new directive on face shields complements our existing multi-layered safety measures such as:

•    the use by our cabin crew of full PPE or Personal Protective Equipment in flight,
•    the availability of hand sanitizers on- ground and inflight
•     thermal scanning of all passengers
•    special inflight service
•     installation of protective barriers at airport and ticket office counters
•     intensive disinfection of aircraft surfaces using high grade eco-friendly cleaning agents
•     high-tech cabin air flow systems to refresh cabin air, and use of HEPA (High Efficiency
Particulate Air) Filters to cleanse cabin air of impurities, bacteria and viruses, with 99.99%
efficacy.



Rose Elvan | Senior Account Manager
International Sales
Philippine Airlines
Room C4110.0A | ITB Level 4
Vancouver International Airport,
3211 Grant McConachie Way, Richmond BC V7B 0A4
M: (604)828-9919
E: rose_elvan@pal.com.ph | [link moderated]

Needless to say, we won't be returning this year.

jwschmidt wrote:

•     high-tech cabin air flow systems to refresh cabin air, and use of HEPA
(High Efficiency  Particulate Air) Filters to cleanse cabin air of impurities, bacteria and viruses, with 99.99% efficacy.

In the past only the Pilots Cabin used fresh air. While the rest of the Flotsam breath the same recirculated air. Pre pandemic, some passengers actual caught an  illness breathing the bad air.

I have doubts of the new high standards PAL or  other airlines claims without refitting the ventilation system.

Sweden. No lockdowns. No closures. No masks. Full success. Their wave is behind them with no economic damage and far fewer fatalities per capita than many countries that locked down (U.K. as just one example). Unfortunately Philippines are just getting started on their wave. The lockdowns did nothing but postpone the inevitable and bankrupt the country so cant and wont be continued. Shields on top of masks on top of distancing on top of hygiene on top of travel restrictions are the only cards left to play.


https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/ … mic-damage

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavir … ilippines/

The first part of that has been clarified in the last couple of days.  Foreign spouses who already have a non-expired visa and ARC card are allowed back in without a new one from  an Embassy.  That includes SRRV and 13A holders.  If the visa is valid but the ARC or SRRV card is expired it has to be renewed first.

That is my understanding as well. The notice refers to spouces/family without currently valid visas.  Valid SRRV and 13A holders do not need an additional visa and are allowed to travel. Cant see 20 or more hours on an airplane and through airports, suffocating behind a mask and a shield, being a real attractive proposition though, visa or no visa.

jwschmidt wrote:

Sweden. No lockdowns. No closures. No masks. Full success. Their wave is behind them with no economic damage and far fewer fatalities per capita than many countries that locked down (U.K. as just one example).

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/ … mic-damage

jwschmidt offers two websites for us to ponder and consider. Which one should we believe?

Different URL's on two different posts, one claims (Zerohedge.com) Sweden full success.

The other (Worldometer.info) claims Swedens death rate 572 per million is the 7th highest in the world out of over 200 countries. Article compares Sweden with UK, UK at 609 per million. Not much difference.

Note: Swedens density is 25 per square kiliometer and UK density is 275 per square kilometer.

It seems both countries has failed, add them to the growing list.

What I get out of all the reports thrown at us everyday, nobody knows what the F*** is real or
unreal. Like everything else in life people are going to believe what they want to believe.

The primary losers are familys that lost love ones, businesses that went out of business or crippled, thus owners and employees who lost their living, families that slipped from middle class into poverty.

Second wave of losers is countries that printed money, banks that hold mortgages.

Almost all of Sweden in on vacation this month and they vacation outside Sweden. Somewhere warmer, i.e. everywhere but Sweden 😂. A lot of them take a month off. When they get back, who knows what else they are bringing back with them. It is not Corona Beer.

The worldometer report is for graphical illustration of Swedens curve which has clearly peaked and declined to very low levels of new infections and virtually zero new deaths. They acheived that without lockdowns, without masks, without closing schools and without devastating their economy. That is what victory looks like.

The fatalities shown on any chart are a fraction of the true extent of harm and damage done through lockdowns and oppression. As you say, the real loosers over the long term are those millions who lost jobs, saw their businessess go bankrupt and who now face the effects of crippling national debt brought on by lockdowns. Not to mention the psychological and mental harm done to millions through isolation and subsequent rupture of the social fabric required by human beings. Sweden may have had more up front casualties than some but their long term collective health both physical, mental and economic is in far better shape than most.

During WW2 millions were sacrificed in order to preserve our respective countries way of life our economies and our freedom. Sweden fought a war against covid with the goal of preserving their way of life, economy and freedom. Their war is behind them while most are still hiding in their trenches hoping their war will go away (it wont) and have decades of social, economic, physical and mental misery ahead of them.

By the way, I live in Canada where population density is a fraction of Swedens. Canada's lockdown measures were about middle of the road. Per capita infection rates and deaths slightly lower than Sweden but marginally so. But, Canada has amassed hundreds of billions in new debt, have millions of newly  unemployed, have seen tens of thousands of bankrupt businesses, have seen suicides quadruple, have seen deaths from untreated illnesses quadruple during hospital closures (that were waiting for covid patients who never materialized), have seen a quadrupling of mental health problems and continue to see societal destruction caused by unjustified fear and isolation.  These problems are just beginning to become visible and the long term will likely be bleak.

jwschmidt wrote:

The worldometer report is for graphical illustration of Swedens curve which has clearly peaked and declined to very low levels of new infections and virtually zero new deaths. They acheived that without lockdowns, without masks, without closing schools and without devastating their economy. That is what victory looks like.

The fatalities shown on any chart are a fraction of the true extent of harm and damage done through lockdowns and oppression. As you say, the real loosers over the long term are those millions who lost jobs, saw their businessess go bankrupt and who now face the effects of crippling national debt brought on by lockdowns. Not to mention the psychological and mental harm done to millions through isolation and subsequent rupture of the social fabric required by human beings. Sweden may have had more up front casualties than some but their long term collective health both physical, mental and economic is in far better shape than most.

During WW2 millions were sacrificed in order to preserve our respective countries way of life our economies and our freedom. Sweden fought a war against covid with the goal of preserving their way of life, economy and freedom.

Their war is behind them while most are still hiding in their trenches hoping their war will go away (it wont) and have decades of social, economic, physical and mental misery ahead of them.

By the way, I live in Canada where population density is a fraction of Swedens.

Canada's lockdown measures were about middle of the road. Per capita infection rates and deaths slightly lower than Sweden but marginally so. But, Canada has amassed hundreds of billions in new debt, have millions of newly  unemployed, have seen tens of thousands of bankrupt businesses, have seen suicides quadruple, have seen deaths from untreated illnesses quadruple during hospital closures (that were waiting for covid patients who never materialized), have seen a quadrupling of mental health problems and continue to see societal destruction caused by unjustified fear and isolation.  These problems are just beginning to become visible and the long term will likely be bleak.

I believe there are a lot of plus or minus questions when trying to understand  Worldometer findings, for example for Sweden, no report on new cases, new deaths, total recovered or active cases. While many third world countries report these.

This is my unscientific thought comparing the density of Sweden & Canada.

18% of Swedens population lives in its 5 largest cities (2.7 million).

26% of Canadas population lives in its five largest cities (6.7 million) which are close to some US population centers.

I agree with you on the lockdown, far to excessive. Covid is a war, do we wait to the cure has inflicted more damage than the disease? The covid war is operating on a lot of assumptions, assuming is a gamble either in marching forward or staying the course. We must have more accurate facts. Prudent unlocking can be done, one size does not fit all in deciding what to lock down and what to open.

***

jwschmidt wrote:

***   /

I don't understand why people compare spanish flu with covid-19, we have gone a long way with technology and medicine since that period.

My history may be a bit foggy but if I recall correctly? During the period of Spanish Flu, there was a lot of soldiers returning home, or was that the Asian Flu? The point is these soldiers returned home and it didn't help and it became a widespread pandemic. With the lack of knowledge, technology and medicine, death toll rocketed.

if it was 1920 right now and with covid 19, the death toll figure would easily be at 100x greater than it is right now.

I would not say its a "scam" as they call it, Dr. Birx and Dr. Fauci  did the best they could and made a decision based on a theoretical model, it just seems like they need someone to point a finger at somebody. eg; what they are doing right now even when China said let's point fingers after we have cleared this pandemic, right now we need to work together and share information.

Don't get me wrong, I trust China as much as the next person, but then again, I voted Hillary.

not to get side lined here - but someone once asked me why did I vote hillary? My reply was this. "if there was ever a day WW3 broke out and we are all in a position where death was inevitable, Hillary will run but at least tell me and leave me some extra ammo. Trump will run, lock the door, take all the ammo and leave me with a rock."

and I'll stop now. Uh we are way off topic 

Let's keep away from conspiracy theories and politics guys.

jwschmidt wrote:

<span>[Post under review]</span>

I don't have any idea why jwschmidt post is or should be under review, it would behoove the person that is reviewing this not to strangle this thread.

Without seeing his post, I would like an addendum to my previous post.

I believe:

(1) Some cases are under reported.
(2) Some cases are over reported.
(3) Many cases are misreported
(4) Drawing conclusions between the three are unreliable.
(5) Keeping this on thread, the decisions made by the Philippine government should only rely on credible  information generated in the Philippines, not waiting for a vaccine as their only solution.

Back in the states so much direction in what the Federal & Local Government do is partly determined by Dr. Fauci's opinoin.  He has been seen on stage with the President and on most of the cable news networks.

Dr. Fauci has not seen a patient in over 25 years, so he has no practical experience or knowledge. If under normal circumstances I had to go to the emergency room, I certainly wouldn't want Dr. Fauci to be my Emergency Room doctor.

He is the head honcho of NIH. NIH stands for National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Now the NIH has over 20,000 employees and a budget of $39 Billion Dollars. That's $1.75 million per employee. I contend Dr. Fauci doesn't know what's going on in the trenches and possibly more interested in keeping the Pork rolling, excuse me, the funding intact.

The post that is under review was simply a chart showing the number of infections and fatalities for various pandemics over the years including the 1968 Hong Kong flu and the 2018 seasonal flu. No subjective or misleading information at all. Purely factual data. The point being made by the chart was that despite the intensity and lethality of previous pandemics, in no other instance did the world ever decide that the destruction of the global economy, the removal of civil liberties and the rupture of society were justified to any d

egree let alone to the almost suffocating and debilitating extent we see today. Apparently facts are not acceptable on Expat.com so I will look for the delete button on my browser and exit all discussions.

jwschmidt wrote:

degree let alone to the almost suffocating and debilitating extent we see today.
<snip>
so I will look for the delete button on my browser and exit all discussions.

Your post somehow ended up being split. I agree with everything you say except for you to exit all discussions.

The destruction of the economy was leaders trying to make a politically correct decision. Some leaders decided to follow their own common sense instead of the politically correct rubbish we see all the time.

Other leaders saw the way of their errors and opened up the economy in varies degrees. Regardless politics ruled the day, if it was not for countries being democratic, this problem may have been avoided.

Lets just say, if some heads of state were true dictators, not elected, maybe we would not be facing an economic shutdown, as they didn't have to make a politically correct decision.

pnwcyclist wrote:

Let's keep away from conspiracy theories and politics guys.

Killjoy. 😂

"Dr. Fauci has not seen a patient in over 25 years, so he has no practical experience or knowledge. If under normal circumstances I had to go to the emergency room, I certainly wouldn't want Dr. Fauci to be my Emergency Room doctor."

And I would not want an emergency room doctor making pandemic recommendations either.  As far as knowledge does there are very few  people with more knowledge than he has,   Unless you want the "demon sperm" doctor's opinion.

AaronAardvark wrote:

"Dr. Fauci has not seen a patient in over 25 years, so he has no practical experience or knowledge. If under normal circumstances I had to go to the emergency room, I certainly wouldn't want Dr. Fauci to be my Emergency Room doctor."

And I would not want an emergency room doctor making pandemic recommendations either.  As far as knowledge does there are very few  people with more knowledge than he has,   Unless you want the "demon sperm" doctor's opinion.

Dr. Fauci is an administrator, with no hands on experience with  patients. I think an emergency room Doctor has seen many many Covid patients and I believe the recommendations he would make are pretty standard.

jwschmidt wrote:

And now for something completely hilarious

https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/na … ily/story/

I didn't find anything funny with it. The virus is spreading among family members. Anyways, wearing face masks at home is just a suggestion. It's up to the individual if he / she wants to follow it.

The entire household of an acquaintance's brother all tested positive Covid -- the couple, their parents, kids, house help. One of the in-laws of the brother is now in critical care.

One of our neighbors had a scare recently. The couple were both doctors. They have kids and house help living with them. One of the husband's colleagues tested positive. Everyone in their household got tested. The husband had to isolate before they got the result. Fortunately, they were all negative. The wife still goes to work. She's a pulmonologist.  She has a separate room, separate eating utensils, etc. She wears a mask when she goes outside her room. Only meets with the kids on the internet or at a distance.

Something to consider: If you get admitted to an ICU due to severe symptoms of Covid-19, you might end up paying PhP1.3 to 2 million in medical fees.

Wear a face mask. Consider wearing a face shield. The virus can be transmitted through spit, droplets and aerosols ejected while talking. I own a shop. I foresaw that some customers would pull down their face masks while talking, which was why I put glass dividers and glass walls at my work. I also put up signs telling people not to remove their masks whlile talking.

This one is truly hilarious -- a video clip from Friends. You get the idea.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ISJS4gSBh0

I went to BOI for I card renewal they were giving tourists visa  extension to a guy but he was being charged a penalty for a late extension , this is in Davao city