People talk about...
[1] MAN WAS JUST DRUNK. A false Facebook post of one Zaldy Maguigad Saturday, February 1, claimed that a “Chinese national” collapsed on a street in Ermita, Manila was a “possible nCoV carrier.” GMA News corrected the post, saying the man was just drunk.
[2] MOCHA USON CONDEMNS FALSE NEWS. You’re not helping, tweeted Uson who flogged the false post. That drew the sharp retort Sunday, February 2, by social media influencer Ethel Booba, “Expert. Charot!” Uson, justly or not, is billed as “queen of fake news.”
No evidence that...
... DOGS AND CATS can be infected by, or will transmit, 2019-nCoV.
... GOODS FROM CHINA would carry the virus; “no way” for now.
Those are bits of useful data from the glut of information that has flowed in the wake of the threat of coronavirus.
Gross joke
A distasteful joke, which was promptly condemned, said that in an unnamed country, a slide presentation about 2019-nCoV urged people “not to worry, the virus won’t last long, it’s made in China.”
Not just a local problem
Developments on the coronavirus crisis increasingly tell local government leaders that it is not just a local problem. It has a lot of implications on foreign policy, immigration, and the economy.
That may be the reason the LGU chiefs acting on the problem have limited their involvement to implementing decisions already adopted by the national government.
They may include steps on how the impact on the local economy and trade could be kept at a minimum. The lessons from the Sars epidemic in 2002-2003 may be useful.
How to spin the news
First, for a number of days, emphasis of government communicators was there was not a single confirmed case of corona virus yet, only patients under investigation. Then, last Thursday, January 30, two confirmed cases were found but only one case was publicly admitted. Then last Sunday, February 2, the shocking announcement: the first 2019-nCoV death outside China was reported by the Philippines.
How do they spin that? It’s a dubious distinction: to produce the first corona victim outside the place of origin of the virus. Government communicators say there is no death yet in the Philippines of anyone to whom the disease was transmitted.
That’s supposed to comfort us that no one yet in the country got the disease from someone and died. Meaning, death by infection from a 2019-nCoV virus has still to happen here.
Mabatid’s plan for seniors
An ordinance proposed by Cebu City Councilor Niña Mabatid aims to help seniors get gainful work by “requiring” at least three percent of their work force. It will be a food-for-work program with tax incentives for establishments that will comply with it.
The proposal will meet little opposition from the business community if it will be merely persuasive and not compulsory. Mabatid may look at models in the US and Europe where similar legislation is being experimented.
Mabatid’s critics won’t skip the chance to poke at the proposal as preparation for her rumored plan to run for higher office in 2022.
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