a bit increase in covid cases in the Philippines, especially in Manila.
3000 cases diagnosed, up from 350 about a week ago.
This is probably because of the spread from family get togethers over Christmas.
They are now discussing increasing the level of quarantine to level 3 in Manila. I haven't checked if we will start increasing the level here too, but for some reason, there was no big New Year's Eve party with fireworks in the Plaza, and all the usual kiosks selling fireworks were not there this year.
I am not sure why they didn't have the party/ fireworks this year: They have been having parties for the last week there, and this morning I heard the music from the Rumba exercize class, so we are not in shut down.
Usually also there are lots of firecrackers and fireworks going off all over the place on New Year's Eve, but this year it was moderately quiet, although noisy enough that I had all five dogs hiding in my room to be safe from the noise.
Is it because of the problem buying firecrackers?
Yes, you could buy them on the quiet if you knew where to go: hey this is the Philippines.
But the bad news is that someone in the next barangay burnt down their house from a misplaced firework. Sigh.
I haven't heard of any cases of covid here, but Joy did go to church this morning so she will get news if anyone is sick (and asking for prayers).
Speaking of prayers: Pray for Joy's nephew. He had a small low grade tumor in his maxillary sinus (cheekbone) treated with radiation about 8 years ago, and it has returned: and since it only caused minor swelling of his face, and because everyone has been avoiding doctors and clinics due to the fear of covid, he didn't get it rechecked until last week. Surgery is scheduled later this week; The tumor is large but no distant metastases so maybe this will cure it, but the surgery is disfiguring and he is newly married, no kids...
The good news is that the medical standards in Manila are high. The bad news is that, although it is a lot cheaper here than in the USA, it is still very expensive for people because the salary level here is low... and most of the bill is paid out of pocket, even when you have insurance.
I got an email from the Democrats abroad where they are tying to get up a petition so we can get medicare to pay for hospitalization for us expats living overseas.
The problem, of course, is fraudulent billing.
For FilAms and other eligible veterans, they do have a VA clinic in Manila for care, but the rest of us just pay cash on the line (I have Phil Health but it only pays for about half of the bill).
There was also an HMO type program that Joy tried to get me to buy: but the problem is that it limited who you could see, and none of the docs were in this area.
Something to remember for all the "deplorables" patriots on the internet who now are saying they want to retire overseas in some third world utopia.
The problem is that these macho guys ignore that in times of trouble you won't have family around you to care for you when you get sick: unless you find a nice Filipina girl who will marry you and let you support her family in exchange for taking care of you. Not a bad deal for guys.
In my case, I married a Filipino and moved here with him, so no problem... family is here, and we have a cook and maid whose family has have worked for our family for two generations and so we look the other way when they steal minor things they need, because hey it's not theft they are borrowing it as part of the family, and you didn't really need all those towels/dishes/ etc. did you?
If you are thinking of moving to the Philippines, watch this video: Mikey Bustos has this parody that goes thru the reality of Filipino life in the barangays....(although if you are rich you can live in a gated community with other ex pats and elite Filipinos and not even realize you aren't in American suburbia).
Sigh.
In other news, Omnicrom is coming:
I had posted videos from DrC about omnicrom in London, where they are expecting everyone to catch it, but since it is less lethal maybe it will not increase the death rate too much. The BBC is a bit hysterical about it, but I was in touch with relatives who are nurses in the London area, and they are very very worried too, even though they have been vaxxed and had caught it last year. So remember them in your prayers also.
I am fighting off an episode of bronchitis that has made my asthma worse. No, not covid: no sore throat, no fever, no achiness, and I can smell and taste okay. And I don't feel sick, as I did six months ago when I had a flu like disease with severe shortness of breath that lasted two day.
I've been double vaxxed, so no problem. Except that we don't have any Ivermectin for me to take if I start getting sicker, and so we're trying to find a place that has it still in stock.
No I am not getting a test: Too lazy to go outside. And prednisone and my inhaler are keeping the asthma under control.
Something to remember when you read about the number of cases being diagnosed: In poor countries they don't always get tested. And the big increase in positive cases might just be because people were too busy to get tested earlier during the holidays and finally got around to doing it.
The farm is doing well, but the big problem is the huge increase in the price of fertilizer, which eats into our profit and of course raise the price of rice and food for the poor and the middle class, many of whom are not working due to shut downs or because they lost their jobs overseas or on ships.
Sigh.
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