General Info

[QUOTE=WestCoast1;2554138]From today's newspaper The Sunday Times. The Phils vaccine Czar is saying he expects herd immunity by October of this year. I nearly fell over this morning when I saw the headline in the newspaper. Is that possible?

According to the article: Another 100 k doses have arrived, bringing the total to 3. 525 million. The government says it needs to innoculate 70 million people to reach herd immunity. 1. 6 million have been inoculated, front-liners and seniors. The government expect a steady supply of vaccines starting third quarter of this year. They have a mass-vax simulation planned where they will be able to vax up to 120,000 persons per day. Multiple companies will be delivering jabs: Sinovac mostly so far, then CoronaVac, Sputnik V, and Moderna. In total, about 9 million doses with future arrivals.

How does that get to 70 million people inoculated?[/QUOTE]Why do you assume they are using the Arabic number system? Perhaps they are employing the Alamblak number system, in which numbers are built from 1, 2, 5, and 20.

[QUOTE=WestCoast1;2554138]
How does that get to 70 million people inoculated?[/QUOTE]Short answer Lies and Magic. Truth is only 20% of the population WANT to get vaccinated and they have only jabed 1. 5 m single dose and 230 k fully vaccinated so it would take 33 years to vaccinate the population at the current rate and they also admitted that vaccinations due to the lock down have come to a screeching halt. They don't have cold storage physical facilities for a vaccine like modera or phizer on any meaningful scale. Lawmakers trying to push some discriminatory ordinance that would shame the anti-vaxers in order to see an uptick in vaccine adoption. Pretty much the shit show we all know and love to hate for the time being. Locking people down with 15-25 people in a single room does very little to social distance anyone in fact I think these lockdowns aid in the spread of the virus due to packing in the barangays with people who would otherwise sleep in shifts and pile up human waste. They have been basically double masking for over a year with the stupid face shields and still managed to hit record numbers of cases. They ignore doctors advice and have the inept military running the medical disaster response. As soon as the US opens back up despite all this silliness I think we see the Philippines miraculously welcome in vaccinated foreigners. Vaccinated foreigners will be injecting modified DNA into every willing philippina, so get ready to save lives by inoculating as many women as possible, you will be the new papa jesus, cream pies for all, they can't get it done so its "up to you".

"Philippines seeks to lift medical capacity as Covid-19 cases top one million".

[URL]https://mvariety.com/news/philippines-seeks-to-lift-medical-capacity-as-covid-19-cases-top-one-million/article_a36bbd88-a699-11eb-95d4-9be3d4a9f55d.html[/URL]

"Discriminatory, you say? ".

[URL]https://manilastandard.net/opinion/columns/naked-thought-by-charlie-v-manalo/352796/discriminatory-you-say-.html[/URL]

[QUOTE=MontanaMonger;2554569]Short answer Lies and Magic. SNIP As soon as the US opens back up despite all this silliness I think we see the Philippines miraculously welcome in vaccinated foreigners. [/QUOTE]Maybe.

[QUOTE=MontanaMonger;2554569]Vaccinated foreigners will be injecting modified DNA into every willing philippina, [/QUOTE]Maybe. Agree with many of the things you said. But a caution:

Here are several conditions. The US opens up (or other countries, say, in bubbles). Philippines vaccination rates takes much longer to get to any herd immunity (as per recently reported government vax numbers and MM's analysis). Phils welcomes vax-passported travelers. Willing Filipina. Those are all separate things. In chatting here in PM, or with others outside phils, there seems to be thinking that as soon as you can get your vax-passport and be allowed entry back into Phils, you are going to magically be back in P-paradise. Maybe yes, maybe no. Many of the Board gents are frequent guests here (as I was for more than a decade). They come / go for a week or a month, depending vacation time. They are dependent on hotels, apartments, and condos.

Just because the Phils allows vaxed travelers to come back does not necessarily change the ECQ / GCQ situation here, which is determined by the Government (not me, dammit). The 'CQ' situation determines what businesses are open. Regardless of location (Manila is the most strict), hotels / apartments / condos are still living under very strict rules (sometimes governed by fear), many allowing in only owners and registered guests who actually live there (no transient or temporary guests, as we are so used to bringing in ST / LT ladies. You might find yourself using ST hotels a lot.

I will guess that your vax-passport will get you into the country at some point, but you will have trouble finding a living arrangement where you can point / shoot this or that honey and bring her back to your place at will.

Other gents who live here feel free to weigh in, especially NCR members.

[QUOTE=MontanaMonger;2554569]Short answer Lies and Magic. Truth is only 20% of the population WANT to get vaccinated and they have only jabed 1. 5 m single dose and 230 k fully vaccinated so it would take 33 years to vaccinate the population at the current rate and they also admitted that vaccinations due to the lock down have come to a screeching halt. They don't have cold storage physical facilities for a vaccine like modera or phizer on any meaningful scale. Lawmakers trying to push some discriminatory ordinance that would shame the anti-vaxers in order to see an uptick in vaccine adoption. Pretty much the shit show we all know and love to hate for the time being. Locking people down with 15-25 people in a single room does very little to social distance anyone in fact I think these lockdowns aid in the spread of the virus due to packing in the barangays with people who would otherwise sleep in shifts and pile up human waste. They have been basically double masking for over a year with the stupid face shields and still managed to hit record numbers of cases. They ignore doctors advice and have the inept military running the medical disaster response. As soon as the US opens back up despite all this silliness I think we see the Philippines miraculously welcome in vaccinated foreigners. Vaccinated foreigners will be injecting modified DNA into every willing philippina, so get ready to save lives by inoculating as many women as possible, you will be the new papa jesus, cream pies for all, they can't get it done so its "up to you".

"Philippines seeks to lift medical capacity as Covid-19 cases top one million".

[URL]https://mvariety.com/news/philippines-seeks-to-lift-medical-capacity-as-covid-19-cases-top-one-million/article_a36bbd88-a699-11eb-95d4-9be3d4a9f55d.html[/URL]

"Discriminatory, you say? ".

[URL]https://manilastandard.net/opinion/columns/naked-thought-by-charlie-v-manalo/352796/discriminatory-you-say-.html[/URL][/QUOTE]Not to sound too jaded, but doesn't the Philippines have a lot of other curable diseases that vaccines have been readily available for years and yet they seem to be flourishing there in the PI. Look at their TB rates, measles, and other preventable diseases that Sally Struthers used to be hawking for your dimes to give to her organization so vaccines can be had in places like the PI, what makes people think that everyone is just going to fall in line and get this one?

[QUOTE=Drbombay;2554682]Not to sound too jaded, but doesn't the Philippines have a lot of other curable diseases that vaccines have been readily available for years and yet they seem to be flourishing there in the PI.[/QUOTE]I actually know a woman that used to work in Korea town in AC and she developed spinal tuberculosis, she daughter had a chronic cough that I was sure was not a normal cold and I'm sure she still has TB. She ended up taking a loan from her Korean employer for the spinal surgery and that's how she ended up eventually working in a bar. But about the actual adoption of the vaccine from my limited bar girl poll I have taken none of them are lining up to get this shot unless it becomes a condition for work. I think they will convince the general work force to get vaccinated primarily the ones who need to get a "Medical certificate" but everyone else I'm sure won't be lining up any time soon unfortunately.

[QUOTE=WestCoast1;2554681]The 'CQ' situation determines what businesses are open.[/QUOTE]Point well taken, I have not had the pleasure of being under any CQ, I'm sure it is not fun. Not being able to get back in has made me anxious to get back in, but if I do get back in and things are a shadow of what it used to be. Is it worth the trip at that point? Hopefully things will evolve to a point where most things reopen by the time they do let us back in.

[QUOTE=MontanaMonger;2554693]Point well taken, I have not had the pleasure of being under any CQ, SNIP Is it worth the trip at that point? Hopefully things will evolve to a point where most things reopen by the time they do let us back in.[/QUOTE]So some pics, showing how things have changed. Some 'CQ' in Manila. A waltz thru Agoda yesterday, looking at hotels / condos. Various laws, Brgy orders, DOH requirements, travel restrictions, and fears have lead hotels, apartments, and residences to enact restrictions on both current and inbound residents / guests.

First two pics, are the Red Planet requirements for all RP in the NCR. The chain has gone to quarantine-only (and some business travelers who can prove they are on business travel). The last two pics are also common in both hotels and residences in Manila.

Related current story. Recently I happened to take a walk down Mabini. Passing the Red Planet Mabini, I inquired with the guard about getting a room for the night. "No sir, this hotel is quarantine only. Not open for the public". OK, I will maybe book with a different RP. "No sir, all our hotels in NCR is now quarantine only". Check. I walked further up Mabini to chain Go Hotel. Four heavily armed police were milling about. I inquired with them. "No sir. Hotel not open to the public. Quarantine and hospital overflow. You should not be here". Check. Walked further up Mabini to City State. The guard said its closed. Looked across the street at Manila Lotus. "That is closed also". Are there any open hotels in Malate for the public? "I think only Eurotel sir". By Robinson's? "Yes sir". I called Eurotel, the girl asked if I wanted to reserve a Studio room. Yes, for me and my GF. "Oh, no sir. One person only per room. You want additional room for your girlfriend?" Sweetie, I am looking on Agoda, and all your rooms show good for two, three, or more persons. "Yes sir but its one person each room. Management orders". For reference, almost all biz on Mabini, del Pilar, and Adriatico are closed (including the vast majority of hotels and pensions), except convenience stores and the occasional Korean food takeout. Its a tomb out there.

When does this lighten up, or re-open? When numbers of new infections or deaths fall. Does that happen just because foreigners have vax passports?

This is West Coast, ASB-CGQ News, reporting from Manila.

[QUOTE=WestCoast1;2554860]So some pics, showing how things have changed.....[/QUOTE]Jeez, you're full of good news today😁.

How about mobility and physically moving around town? Are taxis / Grabs / Jeeps running?

I'm guessing the provinces are a lot better off but it's certainly not what we wanted to hear.

Stay safe. G.

[QUOTE=WestCoast1;2554860]
When does this lighten up, or re-open? When numbers of new infections or deaths fall. Does that happen just because foreigners have vax passports?
[/QUOTE]Maybe. Baiden just adjusted the mask requirement for fully vaccinated people so the world may start allowing fully vaccinated people run free. WHO and CDC have stated that fully vaccinated people should be allowed to roam free. Does this mean you can only co-mingle with other vaccinated people or will you be exempt from the QC measures all together? It is well within their best interests to implement such a policy, foreigners are basically walking ATMs. It doesn't make sense to restrict a fully vaccinated person especially if the US and Euro zones aren't doing it.

Back up plan: Main reason I have been so cozy with the bargirls and women online is I know of a few bar girl enclaves in the provinces in the south. I was mulling over renting a house from one of the respective other foreigners who own homes for rent in the province. The islands in the south seem to have their own bubbles for the most part so if you can make it into the bubble. It seems as if they let you live relatively unhindered. This would be my back up plan if AC is not fully or even partially open in a few months.

[QUOTE=MontanaMonger;2554876]Back up plan: Main reason I have been so cozy with the bargirls and women online is I know of a few bar girl enclaves in the provinces in the south. I was mulling over renting a house from one of the respective other foreigners who own homes for rent in the province. The islands in the south seem to have their own bubbles for the most part so if you can make it into the bubble. It seems as if they let you live relatively unhindered. This would be my back up plan if AC is not fully or even partially open in a few months.[/QUOTE]TBH, this is a much better plan. Finding your own apartment or home away from the city might mean that nobody is watching after you or your guests. Downside: No security guard is watching out for you or your guest. More on this later.

[QUOTE=Goferring;2554874]Jeez, you're full of good news today[/QUOTE]There's more good news. Will get to the mobility part later.

In your Residence or hotel (lets use Birch Tower as an example). You have, say 4 elevators. Each has a stated capacity of 15 persons (recently saw smaller elevators with capacity 20 -- yikes). That's 4 x15 = capacity 60 persons moving in elevators at one time. But its Covid, and the DOH limits capacity to just 4 persons per elevator. One day, one of the elevators needs maintenance and stops working. It is being repaired for several days. Capacity has gone from 60, to just 12 (3 elevators x 4 persons). If you've been to Birch Tower, you know the pre-covid long waits (not enough elevators). Current Covid means that it might be easier (or faster) for you to walk down rather than take the elevator.

A (bad, but not uncommon) example. You are on floor 10, wanting to go downstairs to pick up your Grab food, or grocery shop. You call the elevator. You can hear it rising from below. It shoots past you, going up, carrying 4 persons upward, to floor 20. Those 4 persons depart the elevator and 4 new persons enter the elevator, now going down. The elevator stops on 19, but no new passengers as its full. It also stops on 18,17, 16, and so on, all the way to the ground floor. After a while, you abandon the ride, or you walk down the stairs.

Another. 25 persons are waiting at the ground floor elevators to go upstairs. As each elevator arrives at the ground floor and exits 4 passengers, 4 of your lobby-mates board it. You hope everyone is queuing, hoping that since you are the 13th person to arrive at the elevators, you will be on the 4th elevator. But the crowd is growing downstairs, and new arrivals are crowding the doors. Good luck!

Ray of hope? "fully vaccinated foreign tourists" the holy cow theory I have about allowing vaccinated tourists seems to be becoming a reality. I have a few personal reasons why I don't want to travel to Cebu but if it happens there the whole country should fall in line.

Lapu-Lapu, Cebu mayor wants fully vaccinated foreign tourists allowed entry in city.

[URL]https://www.cnnphilippines.com/regional/2021/4/27/Lapu-Lapu-mayor-foreign-tourists-entry.html[/URL]

[QUOTE=MontanaMonger;2554941]Ray of hope? "fully vaccinated foreign tourists" the holy cow theory I have about allowing vaccinated tourists seems to be becoming a reality. I have a few personal reasons why I don't want to travel to Cebu but if it happens there the whole country should fall in line.

Lapu-Lapu, Cebu mayor wants fully vaccinated foreign tourists allowed entry in city.

[URL]https://www.cnnphilippines.com/regional/2021/4/27/Lapu-Lapu-mayor-foreign-tourists-entry.html[/URL][/QUOTE]The Mayor will have nothing much to do with it however. That's a decision that will be made by President Duterte and the Department of Health.

GE.

Not yet tourists but a step in the right direction? The Inter-Agency Task Force is really the problem here, until they reorganize that the odd ball policies will continue imo.

PH was also counting on 49 m doses of vaccine from India but seeing how India has vaccine shortages and a massive covid problem of its own that is not going to happen pushing that time line back.

"PH allows entry of foreign nationals beginning May 1".

[URL]https://www.sunstar.com.ph/article/1893237/Manila/Local-News/Philippines-allows-entry-of-foreign-nationals-beginning-May-1[/URL]

[QUOTE=Goferring;2554874]How about mobility and physically moving around town? Are taxis / Grabs / Jeeps running?[/QUOTE]Province: No problems. Had access to Grab taxi's (no regular Grab cars ever existed there). Grab vehicles got strict on the plastic. Not the clear cling-wrap kind of plastic, but solid plexiglass separating the front seats from the back. You must sit in the back, its required. You are in for hot ride during the daytime, as the aircon flow does not move past that plexiglass. Some drivers started breaking the plexi-rule. They purchased a 2" diameter PVC pipe, and used duct tape to afix one end of the pipe to the dashboard aircon vent. They cut a 2" hole in the plexiglass and pushed the other end of the pipe thru that, so that cold air flows thru the pvc pipe. Even with the pipe, you will still burn up, just less.

The first few weeks of the province lockdown last year there were no PUV running. The air went from crap to pristine. After that, they re-started PUV's, socially-distanced. For example, trykes. In my city, tryke traffic is strictly controlled, starting with color-coding the trykes themselves. In each vehicle pre-Covid, there is room for one passenger on either side of the driver, and 4 passengers on each side bench in the back (4 on the right, 4 on the left), a total of 10 pasengers. Since Covid, they eliminated the passengers in the front next to the driver, provided a safety harness to the driver in case of accident, and distanced passengers in the back to 2 on each side (leaving 2 spots open between the forward and rear passenger). There is a piece of thin clear plastic between the 2 passengers on each side in the back. Cost went from pre-Covid p7, to Covid p10. The RTA guys started strictly enforcing where the trykes were *not* supposed to go (each Brgy's trykes are uniquely color-coded).

All habals stopped for a long time. After they restarted, there is a large plastic shield on the driver's back. Cost went up.

Jeeps. Pre-Covid, most large jeeps carried 2 passengers in the front, and 11 on each side in the back (rack them, stack them, and pack them). Since Covid, no passengers in the front, and 6 on each side in the back, with a plastic cling-wrap type liner between passengers (similar to tryke). Those pieces of plastic didn't last long with the wind blowing around at speed. Or worse, they did, and they have everyone else's sneeze patterns on them, blowing around wildly at times, slapping you in the face shield (I called it getting 'Covid-slapped' So THAT'S why we have to wear face shields. Cost went from minimum p8, to minimum p15 (adding +5 or +7 to most previous fares) for a while, then some went back down to 10. I continued to take lot of trykes and jeeps.

Taxi's. All taxi's, including Grab, now have a cage around the driver, made with pvc pipe and clear plastic. Its great. It means with your mask on and his mask on, and the plastic between you, when you tell the driver to take you to Isabella street, he might take you to Rockefeller street. You are supposed to sit in the back seat. I like to sit in the front seat. Costs didn't change; flagfall = p40, p2 per minute, and p13.5 per KM. You can sit in the front of a taxi (but not Grab).

Manila: Traffic is way down. Arrived at NAIA on a Wednesday, 4 pm. Easily got a taxi, and was at my hotel in Makati in 15 minutes. At no time of day have I seen rush-hour traffic (yet). All the above is pretty much the same except the trikes in Manila tend to take only 2 persons before or after Covid (its a motorcycle with a small side car that can barely hold 2 people; as opposed to the province with much larger trykes where the passengers ride in the back (up to 8).

Manila Grab. I have a solid complaint. You might think that there would be lots of available Grab taxi's in Manila. Using the app to choose a pickup and destination spot, the app usually shows Grab Taxi's, and Grab Cars. Just choose one and book it. I have found that when I click Grab Taxi, I often get an error immediately from Grab: "Can not connect to server". This is a lie. Clicking several times on the Taxi continues to get the error message. But if you then click on the more expensive Grab car, it connects right away. I discovered that by changing back to the Grab Taxi, it then connects and all is good. Its an attempt to get you to take the more expensive Grab Car. #don'tthinkI'mnotwatchingyouGrab.