Manila is in the 4th wave of the virus: and hysteria reigns. From 300 cases a day to 5000 to 14000... or is it 17000 cases? some newspaper articles say only a small number of these tested positive for omnicron, but this article blames the surge on the big bad O....But the death rates are still low: especially if you consider the number of people who are malnourished due to poverty/unemployment: but of course since people die at ten days with the ordinary covid, that might go up too...
Duterte is asking the barangay officials and cops to keep everyone without a vax card at home. And since Duterte has cleaned up the cops, it means a small gift might not get them to look the other way if you want to do this.
Ah, but what about the half of the population who didn't get the card? Stay home? It appears that will be the rule.
if you want to enter Manila or Bulacan, you will need a proof of vaccination card. Actually this simplifies our rice deliveries: Joy managed to get our (low risk) drivers the vaccine (only Sinovax, which has a low success rate in regular covid and doesn't work for Omnicron very well either) but it does mean they now have a card. But in the past it meant an expensive test a day or two before they went, and now that won't be needed.
How bad is it?
Well, for the second year in a row, the big procession of the Black Nazarene has been canceled. There are still masses on line, and outside attendance to some services with distancing, but they are closing the street to keep out folk and no procession on the street.
The Black Nazarene, a wooden statue of Jesus carrying his cross, is a symbol of suffering that is popular here because suffering is part of life in this poor country... and the procession is a way for people to personally identify with the suffering of Jesus, and ask him for help.
The other bad news?
Even though we are on a lower level of alert, Joy found that even our bank has changed from insisting on a mask (and earlier, a face shield) to having a vax card.
Which ironically means I could go in there hacking and coughing because hey I am vaxxed. (don't worry: I sent Joy to do my banking)... No, I don't know if it's covid: Because it just is acting like my ordinary asthmatic response to a cold virus, something I get once or twice a year, for the past 20 years, and I don't have other symptoms like fever, loss of smell, achiness etc. So probably not full blown Covid, and probably not influenza, but could it be the Omnicron virus? or just an ordinary cold?
Oh well: except for a terrible cough I feel fine.
But Joy's family in Bulacan all have the sniffles (but are not sick) but now her elderly mom, who has Parkinson's disease, is coughing and has a low fever. Sigh. She just lost her husband of 50 years to a stroke, and we are worried she will soon join him. Again, is it omnicron or just an ordinary cold?
But I am social distancing, and don't go outside the house/compound and garden.
So I am on my usual medicines for this: An antibiotic, prednisone, and if it gets bad, my asthma inhaler. Just for good measure, I went on Ivermectin: We have some that Kuya takes prophylactically for Covid and seems to be clearing up his scabies as a side effect. He will now have to order more on line: The pharmacy who sent us some earlier is out of stock, but we do hear the local pharmacy has some in stock if you get a doctor's prescription.
They are giving out the booster to high risk folks and seniors: The cook went this morning. And instead of holding inside the nearby city gym, they are holding it in the plaza (it's winter here, cooler and dry so this is not a problem).
The report is that the Plaza is packed with folks getting their shot. so the anti vax hysteria hasn't hit the grass roots here.
I think it is again the British AZ shot
update: The cook just got back and said it was crowded so she'll go back later. And the maid said you have the choice between the AZ (adenovirus) shot or the Pfizer (mRNA) shot.
Hmm... wonder which one will run out first?
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But I am on prednisone which interferes with the immune response so I will have to wait a week or so to get mine.
One cynical politician said the push to give these shots is because the vaccines are approaching their expiration date, and they need to be used up rather than thrown away. Actually, being slightly over the expiration date is not a big deal: proper storage is the important thing.
And some vaccines require very cold storage, and others just ordinary refrigerators, or even room temperature if not too hot....In Africa, we had a special refrigerator to store the MMR (measles) vaccine, and transported them in a beer cooler to the baby clinics, where we then would defrost and give this shot. This, by the way, is why only certain clinics in the USA give out yellow fever vaccine. And the Pfizer vaccine requires very cold storage.
I will have to ask the cook what vaccine they are giving out here this week: they said mix and match is okay, and seems to work, although the only study I read was about giving the Pfizer booster after the Sinovax (which doesn't prevent the Omnicron version) which said you will need two Pfizer boosters to get protected.
And of course by that time, either we will reach herd immunity from mild Omnicron covid, or there will be a new virus out there to cause more hysteria.
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