I'm no fun of our government especially when they put their lots with China but I believe WHO have been making terrible calls that I believe influenced the decisions of many world leaders to delay action against the corona virus. In the early stage of COVID19, WHO like China seem minimising the seriousness of the virus. January 14 WHO announced that "There was no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission..." https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1217...ry-tweet-china-human-transmission-coronavirus On the first week of February WHO made a statement that travel bans are not needed to beat the coronavirus This was the time that some experts in the field were starting to clamour for a travel ban and even Trump pushed for it despite of people accusing him to be racist against the Chinese. A while ago, WHO also recommended healthy people not to wear masks https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/30/world/coronavirus-who-masks-recommendation-trnd/index.html Which got pushback from many doctors and experts: https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2020/03/11/whos-confusing-guidance-masks-covid-19-epidemic/ Finally WHO declared the coronavirus a pandemic on March 12 which in my opinion much too late: http://www.euro.who.int/en/health-t.../3/who-announces-covid-19-outbreak-a-pandemic I have a suspicion that the these recommendations of WHO that have been downplaying the virus maybe a factor why many governments like Italy, Iran, and even the Philippines did not initially take COVID19 seriously.
You actually make a good point. I read in a few sources that as early as December Taiwan was warning WHO about COVID19 and they were ignored. https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3904054
The problem is WHO is too deferent to China particularly at a time when access to and dissemination of accurate, independently verifiable and reliable information is absolutely critical in curbing the spread of the disease. To reiterate, note that WHO willingly believed China and their supplied data that there were no human to human transmission cases in mid-January as exemplified by WHO's endorsement with the following quote: "Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronavirus (2019-nCoV)". China did try to conceal the initial stages of the outbreak believing that they can control its spread without drawing much international attention which sadly, they had failed. I think we should also put fault at Chinese government for being disingenuous and consequently, WHO for accepting and pushing China's misinformation so easily. In any case however, the Duterte administration is too submissive and lenient with the Chinese government, in that even if WHO issued an appropriately placed recommendation of a total travel ban to China at the early stages of the outbreak, I doubt that the Philippine government would timely comply as it is not in their own interest or agenda to offend their Chinese neighbor.
Et tu, CIA? https://www.newsweek.com/exclusive-...=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1589317251 "The CIA believes China tried to prevent the World Health Organization from sounding the alarm on the coronavirus outbreak in January—a time when Beijing was stockpiling medical supplies from around the world. A CIA report, the contents of which were confirmed to Newsweek by two U.S. intelligence officials, said China threatened the WHO that the country would stop cooperating with the agency's coronavirus investigation if the organization declared a global health emergency." "It was the second such report from a Western intelligence service......" "The first report, a German intelligence assessment published by Der Spiegel last week, accused Chinese President Xi Jinping of personally applying pressure on WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on January 21." "The timeline of the CIA document, called "U.N.-China: WHO Mindful But Not Beholden to China," and the German report dovetail with another analysis conducted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that said China suppressed information about the outbreak in January so it could hoard medical supplies from around the world."
Most of what is posted here we know from other sources of news and information, some speculative, many opinionated, most timely, direct and factual. We all know these and we’ve all been through these in this memorable of times. Only a hermit or bunker dweller wouldn’t know how much our world has changed because of COVID. For me, this thread has run its course. There are likely more areas of Apple (and non-Apple) concerns that we can now dwell on. Besides, this isn’t Reddit or Facebook. This is PhilMUG. Anything less would be an insult to all of us who have made this a virtual home for discourse, humor, knowledge and snarky behavior when and where tolerated. That is why we continue to thrive when other forums haven’t.
Are we ready to go back to the malls starting tomorrow? https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/mon...pen-select-branches-under-modified-ecq/story/ "The SM Store is gearing to reopen several branches on Saturday, May 16. In a Facebook post, the company announced that people can start shopping again at the following branches in Metro Manila, North and South Luzon, and Visayas:" "Some malls are also set to reopen on Saturday and have adapted safety measures and protocols as COVID-19 continues to threaten the country."
Mm...on the record: WHO issued the Public Health Emergency of International Concern last Jan 30, back when it was clearly just a China problem. It is officially the highest alert of the WHO. Declaring a global pandemic later on was secondary and only after data supported its declaration (criteria is two or more WHO regions where local transmission was taking place). To my recollection, very few governments took notice and ACTED swiftly, ours included. I think the only exception was Taiwan. Had they acted swiftly from January 30 and instituted substantial measures, the infection would not have been as bad as today. Imagine, all countries imposing travel bans and quarantine measures much earlier. What happened was they delayed these measures until it was too late. So, is it fair to blame WHO? I don't think so. The important date is January 30 and what governments did from that date forward. Of course, politicians naturally blame WHO for their shortcomings. Convenient scapegoat that plays well to domestic audiences. They are in CYA mode...cover your ass.
good question. Pasay LGU will lift it with restrictions https://www.cnnphilippines.com/news/2020/5/14/Pasay-City-lifts-liquor-ban-modified-ECQ.html
WHO is just too wishy washy, IMO. Too busy kissing China's ass? Probably. Who knows. WHO will say one thing, and contradict it with another statment. Example : "On February 4th, 2020 the WHO President Adhanom issued a statement strongly condemning travel bans. “We reiterate our call to ALL countries NOT to impose restrictions that unnecessarily interfere with international travel and trade. Such restrictions can have the effect of increasing fear and stigma, with little public health benefit.”" How did they really think this virus will cross borders and go international? Despite having declared this thing as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on January 30, the same WHO was advising other countries a few days later that travelling is still OK. Duh?? So those leaders like Trump who imposed travel restrictions on Jan 31 were quick to be ridiculed and called racists because WHO, the "authority" on this virus, said travel bans had little health benefit. Then it took WHO another month and a half to hit the real "panic" button. They held off calling it a pandemic for so long because they did not want the world to panic, right? So isn't it on WHO if the world remained complacent for so long? If they hit that panic button earlier and called this virus for what it is - a pandemic - very early on, the world would probably not be blaming them. In short, WHO, like DOH's Duque, was just too darn busy playing the role of politicians and diplomats they forgot that they were supposed to be medical doctors and scientists first and foremost.
QC lifting it's liquor ban! Now the danger is that a second wave of infections might be triggered by thirsty citizens congregating in stores at the stroke of 1pm tomorrow.
mm...yung mga tomador nag cecelebrate na. Sus....di matiis na hindi makainom ng dalawang buwan. Ano ba yan... ( preparing my liquor and cocktail list)......because liquor is life.
mm..maybe....true but the WHO is purely recommendatory. Walang enforcement powers. The highest warning was raised Jan. 30 and governments should have moved swiftly to arrest the infection. Exclusive, sovereign powers resides with them, not the toothless WHO. Tsaka each country have their own health departments.
COVID-19: a Tale of Two Countries Posted on May 14, 2020 tamino.wordpress.com March of this year coronavirus exploded in Europe, including in Switzerland, hit with over 16,000 cases (nearly 2,000 per million population) by month’s end. Worse yet, new cases were spreading rapidly. The disease was slower to arrive in Sweden, with fewer than 2,000 total cases by the end of March for the whole nation: a mere 190 per million population, less than one tenth the rate seen in Switzerland. Not only did Sweden have far fewer total cases, they were seeing fewer new cases each day: Clearly the Swedes, although victim to coronavirus like all of us, were far less stricken than the Swiss. It’s no surprise that Switzerland put serious lockdown measures in place, while the Swedes implemented social distancing but with far less severity than the Swiss. One wonders, how are they doing? Both countries’ strategies worked; they both put a halt to the rapidly rising epidemic. But Switzerland’s stricter approach worked better. A lot better. Sweden has managed to hold the epidemic at a steady level, a little over 50 new cases per day per million population. That’s enough to strain the health care system, but not break it. However, they remain on “the brink” at such levels, which leads me to think that recent measures in Sweden to loosen yet more, are ill advised. What they’re doing now only holds the outbreak at bay; loosening will let it escape. Switzerland, however, have shown the world how to recover after being hard hit by this epidemic. Not only has the rate of new cases dropped as rapidly as could realistically be expected, the Swiss have shown the fortitude and courage to stick with their winning strategy, driving infection rates well below the 50 cases/day/million population level in Sweden. Roles are reversed; with only 5 cases/day/million population, now it’s Switzerland getting new cases at only 1/10th the rate of Sweden. My conclusions: 1. Social distancing works. 2. Lockdown works better, much better. 3. Doing just enough to prevent crisis levels means the new case load remains at a sustained level which is very costly in human lives, and will not subside. tamino.wordpress.com
I politely but strongly disagree, politicians are not medical professionals, virologist or scientists. Most politicians are lawyers and economist, they rarely are doctors so they have limited understanding how viruses work. For public health policies they consult medical experts who tend to defer to WHO. Speaking of which, the whole reason the World Health Organization was formed is to be the global authority on public health. Managing infectious diseases is one of their major responsibilities. Governments and even medical experts of countries defer to them as the leading authority for these kinds of public health concerns. Please do not downplay this major and important responsibility of WHO. I remember back then when SARS caused an epidemic in China and Hong Kong, WHO was then lead by a woman doctor (I forgot her name) and she strongly endorsed a worldwide travel ban on key areas affected by SARS. China criticized her but thanks to her efforts reduced the global impact of the disease.
Sweden is certainly an interesting case. If you fairly compare them to the global statistics they are somewhere in the middle in mortality and infected and on par with countries who implemented much stricter lock down measures. Based on different sources most of those deaths are elderly with health issues. Thanks to their no lockdown policy, their economy remains intact unlike the rest of the world.
Here is a very interesting Indonesian study on the association of vitamin D levels with decreased severity and mortality of COVID19. Here is the summary 780 COVID19 confirmed patients were divided into three groups depending on their vitamin D levels: 1. Those with normal levels of Vitamin D (47.9% of the sample population) only had 4% mortality 2. Those who are slightly insufficient in vitamin D (27.7% of the population) 88% died 3. Those highly deficient (23 percent of the population) 99% (almost all) died. It seems based on this initial study our body’s vitamin D levels may be an important indicator of one’s survival when infected with COVID19. The moral of the story is, spend some time under the sun, it is probably the cheapest and most effective way to protect ourselves from covid19. Data Source: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3585561
Opinion ‘I Wish I Could Do Something for You,’ My Doctor Said Young, healthy people like me are getting very, very sick from the disease caused by the coronavirus. By Mara Gay Ms. Gay is a member of the editorial board. May 14, 2020 nytimes.com Bottom line: I hope the coronavirus never comes to your town. But if it does, I will pray for you, too. Amen, sister, amen.
