Mother's Day 2020 and Timeline of COVID-19 in the Philippines

It's been 54 days since Luzon and other parts of the country was placed in Community Quarantine. I've gone full beard with regular haircut to full beard and skinhead and then crew cut to no facial hair at all.

In the last 54 days, me and my family has prayed the Holy Rosary together every five in the afternoon. During the Holy Week, we were able to pray Rosary in full, with Novena prayers to the Divine Mercy of Sister Faustina.

And it has been 99 days since the Philippines had its very first COVID-19 case courtesy of.......drum roll please, a 38-year-old Chinese woman from Wuhan, the origin of the disease. The woman arrived in Manila from Hong Kong on January 21.

And then:

• February 2, 2020. Second case of COVID-19 in the Philippines. A 44-year-old Chinese male who was the companion of the first case. His death on February 1 was the first recorded outside China. He suffered from co-infection with influenza and Streptococcus pneumoniae.

• February 5, 2020.  Confirmed third case of 60-year-old Chinese woman who flew into Cebu City from Hong Kong on January 20 before she traveled to Bohol where she consulted a doctor at a private hospital on January 22, due to fever and rhinitis. Samples taken from the patient on January 24 returned a negative result, but the DOH was notified on February 3 that samples taken from the patient on January 23 tested positive for the virus. The patient upon recovery on January 31 was allowed to go home to China.

• March 30, 2020. 128 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed on 30 March, compared to 343 cases on 29 March. 7 additional deaths reported on 30 March, and 3 on 29 March.

• April 15, 2020. A total of 5,453 confirmed cases reported in the Philippines, 55% are male, with the most affected age group 60-69 years.

• May 1, 2020. A total of 8,772 confirmed cases reported. 68.4% of cases reported from National Capital Region (NCR), followed by CALABARZON (13.3%), Central Visayas (7.6%) and Central Luzon (4.4%). The large number of cases in Central Visayas is attributed to several localized outbreaks in Cebu barangays and prisons.

And on Sunday, May 10, 2020, we will be celebrating Mother's Day. Let us all remember honor our mothers and all the mothers all over the world.

And in celebrating this very special day, let us remember Mother Mary, the Mother of God:

Post on COVID-19

By now, Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak has reached a pandemic level. The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday declared the rapid spread of COVID-19 outbreak as pandemic. Pandemic level can be understood easily with this description: "114 countries have reported that 118,000 have contracted Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, known as SARS-CoV2. Nearly 4,300 people have died.

In the Philippines, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte announced on March 12 that the National Capital Region is to be placed on "community quarantine", playing with terms and intentionally avoiding "lock down" during his much awaited but delayed press briefing in Malacanan.

With the community quarantine following the WHO's directive for national governments to step up in addressing the virus' effect and death toll, there were so many questions arising from PRRD's press briefing.

The virus causes mild respiratory infections in about 80% of those infected, though about half will have pneumonia. Another 15% develop severe illness, and 5% need critical care.

How do we address this? Let us borrow from the many ways social media has reached us like Instagram, Youtube, Facebook, Google's Gmail and Blogger, Twitter and many more.

Here is another one, this time an infographic on Effective hand washing:

Knowing the Corona Virus:

Let me share the message I sent to my Scholastic Basketball Camp-PIT Workouts players the other day:

"Hi PIT Camp family! Musta na? No classes and stay at home? Fear not the COVID-19 Virus. Here are some reminders:

1. Exercise regularly, twice a day. Morning and afternoon.

2. Eat healthy. Gulay, isda, prutas (veggies, fish, fruits). STAY away from sugary food and drinks. Mas madali kumapit ang mga bacteria sa sugar inside the body (bacterias like to stick with sweets especially inside the body).

3. Rest well. Sleep early and wake up early.

4. Drink Vitamins. Double-up on your Vitamin C intake.

5. Drink enough water. Stay hydrated.

6. There is a reason for school cancellation. May dahilan. Kasi kailangan ma-contain ang virus and one sure way is to avoid crowds. Stay home.

7. Pray. Pray unceasingly. Pray everytime you have the chance.

8. Follow what your parents and guardians are saying. Obedience is one virtue we all could learn and be protected from.

9. Social Media SHOULD NOT be Your MAIN source of information. Fact check. Always.

God bless all of us.

Coach Francis
Scholastic Basketball Camp

Philippine National Elections 2016

On May 9, 2016, our Nation will be going through the democratic process of choosing and electing our national and local leaders. There will be 18,083 positions and 44,471 candidates for this year's polls. While we have been amused, terrified and taken-as-bobotantes by the circus-like election campaigns of these TRAPOS, the truth of the matter still stands---we are in for another change.  Whoever is sworn in on June, the people will be hopeful and watchful of how truthful the elected politicians will be to their plataporma de gobyerno.

We are expecting more than 54.4 million registered voters to come out and there are 92,509 precincts all over the county. And for those based overseas and wanting to vote, there are 82 foreign posts to serve 1.38 million of them.

It's been said time and again, none of the Presidentiables have taken sports as their primary objective when they take the highest post in the land. With all the issues hounding and pounding our society, I have never heard any of them talk about improving the sports program of the Philippines.

Why oh why?

Education? Poverty alleviation? Health services and delivery? Tanim-bala? Airport problems? Taxation? Transportation? Crime and Drug abuses? Police and Military abuses?

No one cares about the arts and sports development program in a land where more almost everyone is an aspiring athlete or an aspiring artist.

Whatever happens, there will always be that Resiliency of the Filipinos and this spirit is empowered and boosted by our natural and held-on belief on our Universal God. Be it God the Father or Alla, we Filipinos have been a very spiritual nation. We just have to keep holding on, believing in God and working on to reach our highest potential as a country and individually.

And before I regress, I'd like to share the following links for voter's education:

• Official COMELEC Website
• Online Voter's List 
• Online Status Verification

Rappler Philippines have posted a series for voter's education:

• Guide to 2016 Phl Elections
• By the numbers: Candidates in the 2016 Elections

May the Divine assistance be always with us!