ILOILO City is now in the midst of a Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine or MECQ, just a degree lower than the more stringent Enhanced Community Quarantine or ECQ, until May 31 hopefully if things improve. If not, then it could be extended.
The usual quarantine measures are in place: curfew from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m., border checkpoints, no sea travel between Negros and Iloilo, non-essential shops and travel are prohibited, minors and seniors are also prohibited from going out of the house unless buying food or medicines, etc.
The reason for this shift to a more strict measure is the surge in COVID-19 positive cases in the city.
One of the main drivers for the surge in COVID-19 cases is local transmission, meaning basic medical protocols are not followed i.e. proper wearing of facemask, social distancing and washing of hands. The irony is that there is a “Compliance Team” from the city government but it seems preoccupied with political ambitions rather than enforcing the COVID protocols.
A colleague said what is supposed to be a public information campaign on COVID-19 protocols is being treated as some sort of “miting de avance” where “in aid of election” spiels take center stage instead of the health protocols, and worst without a facemask.
Really, how can one seriously enforce the compliance of the basic medical protocols on COVID-19 if one is busy playing “politician”?
Walking from the house to the Iloilo Sports Complex about a kilometer in distance, I’d always pass by people hanging on street corners/stores with their masks completely covering their chins unfortunately, not the mouths and nose, and then some walking around without masks and you’re wondering why COVID-19 cases are up, why people are infected and dying.
And then we have this: a certain Rowena Guanzon posted on Twitter that she wants to buy COVID-19 vaccines supposedly for her driver and staff.
This Rowena Guanzon is currently a Commissioner in the Comelec and a lawyer at that. Is she not aware that the sale of COVID-19 vaccines is illegal and strictly prohibited? And yet she has the temerity or stupidity to announce on social media that she is in the market for COVID-19 vaccines. The NBI should investigate this.
And we segue to 5 reasons to wear mask even after you’re vaccinated from an article in www.gavi.org/vaccineswork:
1. No vaccine is 100% effective
Large clinical trials found that two doses of the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines prevented 95% of illnesses caused by the coronavirus. While those results are impressive, 1 in 20 people are left unprotected, said Dr. Tom Frieden, a former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Dr. Preeti Malani, chief health officer at the University of Michigan, notes that vaccines were tested in controlled clinical trials at top medical centers, under optimal conditions.
In the real world, vaccines are usually slightly less effective. Scientists use specific terms to describe the phenomenon. They refer to the protection offered by vaccines in clinical trials as “efficacy,” while the actual immunity seen in a vaccinated population is “effectiveness.”
2. Vaccines don’t provide immediate protection.
No vaccine is effective right away, Malani said. It takes about two weeks for the immune system to make the antibodies that block viral infections.
Covid vaccines will take a little longer than other inoculations, such as the flu shot, because both the Moderna and Pfizer products require two doses. The Pfizer shots are given three weeks apart; the Moderna shots, four weeks apart.
In other words, full protection won’t arrive until five or six weeks after the first shot.
3. COVID vaccines may not prevent you from spreading the virus.
Vaccines can provide two levels of protection. The measles vaccine prevents viruses from causing infection, so vaccinated people don’t spread the infection or develop symptoms.
Most other vaccines — including flu shots — prevent people from becoming sick but not from becoming infected or passing the virus to others, said Dr. Paul Offit, who advises the National Institutes of Health and Food and Drug Administration on Covid vaccines.
While Covid vaccines clearly prevent illness, researchers need more time to figure out whether they prevent transmission, too, said Phoenix-based epidemiologist Saskia Popescu, an assistant professor in the biodefense program at George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government.
“We don’t yet know if the vaccine protects against infection, or only against illness,” said Frieden, now CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, a global public health initiative. “In other words, a vaccinated person might still be able to spread the virus, even if they don’t feel sick.”
4. Masks protect people with compromised immune systems.
People with cancer are at particular risk from Covid. Studies show they’re more likely than others to become infected and die from the virus, but may not be protected by vaccines, said Dr. Gary Lyman, a professor at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
Cancer patients are vulnerable in multiple ways. People with lung cancer are less able to fight off pneumonia, while those undergoing chemotherapy or radiation treatment have weakened immune systems. Doctors don’t know much about how people with cancer will respond to vaccines, because they were excluded from randomized trials. Only a handful of study participants were diagnosed with cancer after enrolling. Among those people, Covid vaccines protected only 76%.
“For now, we should assume that patients with cancer may not experience the 95% efficacy.”
5. Masks protect against any strain of the coronavirus, in spite of genetic mutations.
Global health leaders are extremely concerned about new genetic variants of the coronavirus, which appear to be at least 50% more contagious than the original.
One thing is clear: Public health measures — such as avoiding crowds, physical distancing and masks — reduce the risk of contracting all strains of the coronavirus, as well as other respiratory diseases.
The best hope for ending the pandemic isn’t to choose between masks, physical distancing and vaccines, but to combine them. (brotherlouie16@gmail.com)/PN)
