COVID-19 is still big news these days. The virus seems to be spreading more and more and the death toll is going up steadily. Up until last week, the Philippines had only 3 confirmed cases while other countries had more. Even countries with much better healthcare than us reported higher numbers of COVID cases. So a thought entered my mind, are we better at curbing this disease than other countries?
The short answer? No, I don't think so. Let's not go around celebrating our low case count as a victory. It's quite possible that the numbers didn't go up as the positive cases simply weren't caught by the system. This is why I think the prudent measures taken by some schools, and churches at this tie are very much warranted.
What I don't think is happening (as confirmed by a friend who works in the DOH) is that the government wants the numbers to be as low as possible and is artificially doing so. There is absolutely no upside to the DOH hiding these numbers from the public. A case in point for this is how the DOH has been constantly communicating with the hotels and resorts as to the whereabouts of certain foreigners who come from Daegu or Hong Kong or Wuhan. The DOH is doing everything in their power to try and curb this virus.
What the internet usually fail to see in these cases is that these cases are not data points - they are people. Take, for example, the case of the 26 Koreans who came to the Philippines from Daegu. These were not confirmed cases, neither were they PUIs. They did not come from Korea illegally (unlike some Chinese nationals) and they came in the Philippines BEFORE the travel ban took place. The DOH told the hotels and resorts to keep an eye on them but not to shun them away. In fact, shunning them away would be worse for everyone as then the DOH would have no idea where they are.
Another bit of news I see circulating are stories of people who ask to be tested for the coronavirus but shooed away. These story bits seem to support the idea that people in the government wish to have as few confirmed cases as possible but deliberately not testing people who may be infected. Statements like, "I work in the same building as the recent confirmed case" or "My friend stayed in the same building as this Korean from Daegu," seem to give these people a higher chance of being a PUI.
These are NOT things that make a person a PUI. In these times of panic and misinformation, a lot of people want to get tested for the coronavirus even if they have a simple cough. Hospitals don't wish to feed this hysteria by allowing anyone and everyone to get tested. And then there's the idea that these tests cost money. With limited money, hospitals can only administer tests to a limited number of people so of course they'll prioritize people who have travel history to places with higher number of cases than us.
Last of all, COVID-19, while it's practically on all the news outlets, is NOT more deadly than other viral diseases. The common flu has a higher mortality rate than COVID-19. We heard about the 3,000 people who died but we don't hear about the 42,000 who have recovered from it. It's not even stressed that most of the 3,000 who died were either of old age or those with compromised immune systems. I dare say, that we shouldn't be afraid of COVID-19. We should still take precautions against it but panic and hysteria will not help us in any way shape or form.
I take a page from my doctor friends. They seem very calm about this. It's probably naive since they've seen much worse cases and just because they're calm, doesn't mean it's nothing to worry about. but it gives me great comfort to simply not worry about this as much as the internet is collectively worrying about this. I'm no expert, but these people are. So I feel much better to just fall back on their assessment of the issue.
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