Cholera Epidemic and Covid-19 Pandemic in the Philippines by VERONICA GEORGE BIHASA

Farola and Worcester’s Measures

2022032581 — 2024-03-08 12:44:28 UTC

The cholera occurred in the Philippines during March 1902. The initial case of cholera were found in a neighborhood called Farola, near the mouth of the Pasig River, where large number of docks workers, fishermen, and small-scale traders live.After confirming the cholera outbreak, Secretary Worcester coordinated civilian and military efforts to contain it by demolishing the Farola area and moving it to a detention camp. Despite this measures and efforts to halt the spread in Manila were unsuccessful, as some locals managed to escape and spread the virus around Manila Bay.

Closing and Reopening of Ports

2022032581 — 2024-03-08 15:47:02 UTC

Because of Malvar's resistance, all the ports under General Franklin Bell's command were closed on December 10 of the previous years. However, on April 19, three days after Malvar's surrender, the port was scheduled to reopen, but it remained closed due to a cholera outbreak.

On May 1 all the port are reopen and the spread of cholera continues because of Filipinos and sometimes Americans who tried to land in secret during the night.

Burning of Cholera’s victims houses

2024-03-08 16:31:56 UTC

On April 7th, cholera was officially recorded in Laguna for the first time. Five days after this, the commander of the U.S. forces in Calamba, the provincial capital, reported a suspected case of cholera in a native barge that had come from Manila. The day after that, a hut made of nipa palm was set on fire in a rural area on the outskirts of town, following the death of the owner's wife from cholera.

Food Disruptions

2024-03-08 17:05:04 UTC

The Tanuan and Santo Tomas concentration camps had enough rice until May 1, but due to U.S. cavalry operations, rice stocks that couldn't be moved were destroyed. While providing rice aid could help until September, the region's complete recovery hinges on restoring regular rice production.

Calamba relies on rice from its neighboring towns, Binan and Cabuyao, because the U.S. forces destroyed irrigation systems and established defense perimeters.

In San Pablo there are no one to attend the rice fields. Revenue from the copra trade allowed the town to purchase most of its rice from neighboring areas. However, this income was significantly reduced due to the reconcentration policy. The copra trade resumed in late April but faced obstacles such as quarantine, the ban on lake traffic in June, and other cholera-related measures. For a period, the residents relied on rice aid to survive.

First Case in the Philippines

2024-03-09 15:43:59 UTC

The onset of COVID-19 in the Philippines marked its first documented case, involving a Chinese national, reported by the Philippine Department of Health (DOH) on January 30, 2020. This initial case signaled the beginning of the country's battle against the pandemic. However, the situation escalated further when the first instance of local transmission was confirmed on March 7, 2020, as acknowledged by the World Health Organization (WHO). This development underscored the urgent need for intensified measures to contain the spread of the virus within the Philippines, prompting the government and health authorities to implement stringent protocols and strategies to safeguard public health and mitigate the impact of the pandemic on the nation's populace.

Belitung, N. J. (2021). Knowledge, attitude, and practice towards COVID-19 among student nurses in Manila, Philippines: A cross-sectional study. PubMed Central (PMC). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10353627/

Government Healthcare Measures

2024-03-09 15:45:15 UTC

the Philippine government implemented various measures aimed at containing the spread of COVID-19, including travel restrictions, community quarantine protocols, risk communication strategies, and testing initiatives. However, despite these efforts, the gradual expansion of testing capabilities, particularly, was not sufficient to curb unchecked disease transmission. This underscored the challenges faced in effectively managing the spread of the virus and highlighted the need for more comprehensive strategies and resources to address the evolving situation and protect public health.

Amit, A., et al. (2021, January). Early response to COVID-19 in the Philippines. PubMed Central (PMC). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8143926/

Lockdown

2024-03-09 15:48:18 UTC

Announcement of a partial lockdown of Metro Manila from March 15 to April 14 was accompanied by the suspension of travel to and from Manila. Subsequently, on March 16, the entire Luzon group of islands was subjected to enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), constituting a comprehensive lockdown and the strictest form of lockdown implemented in the nation. Over the following months, the government enacted a series of quarantine measures, with adjustments to the list of permitted and prohibited activities outside residences shaped by the evolving assessments of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF).

Atienza, M. (2021, April 26). The Philippines a year under lockdown: Continuing executive dominance, threats to democracy, and unclear pandemic response. Verfassungsblog. https://verfassungsblog.de/the-philippines-a-year-under-lockdown/

Decline in Livelihood

2024-03-09 15:50:17 UTC

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted rural livelihoods, particularly in impoverished areas of the Philippines. Challenges such as income loss and limited job opportunities have been widespread. Moreover, communities susceptible to natural disasters faced even greater difficulties in managing COVID-19 restrictions and grappling with its severe economic consequences.

Fallesen, D. (2021, November 10). How COVID-19 impacted vulnerable communities in the Philippines. World Bank Blogs. https://blogs.worldbank.org/eastasiapacific/how-covid-19-impacted-vulnerable-communities-philippines

Quarantine

2024-03-10 11:53:57 UTC

One of similarities of Covid-19 pandemic and Cholera epidemic is quarantine enforcement. People who are victims of the virus were isolated from their families to stop the spread of it, they were in detention camps or in hospitals. Also people are forced to be quarantined.

Food scarcity

2024-03-10 12:04:19 UTC

According to Illeto's story, folks living in the Philippines during the cholera outbreak faced serious food shortages, especially with rice. Even though the government tried to help the poor, it wasn't enough to cover everyone's needs. This tough situation made the mayor of San Juan, Batangas, worry that more people would die from hunger than from cholera, so he asked for protection. It's interesting to see that during the COVID-19 pandemic, we faced a similar situation with food shortages and people asking for help and protection.

Outbreak

2022000951 — 2024-03-10 12:07:08 UTC

Both cholera and the COVID-19 pandemic have impacted the Philippines significantly, but there are differences in their origins and implications. Reynaldo Ileto's work on the origins of the American sanitary order in the Philippines focuses on colonial history and its impact on public health infrastructure. Cholera outbreaks prompted the implementation of sanitation measures by American colonial authorities. In contrast, the COVID-19 pandemic is a global health crisis that originated from a novel coronavirus and has affected nations worldwide, including the Philippines. While both events highlight the importance of public health measures, the COVID-19 pandemic presents unique challenges due to its rapid spread and global interconnectedness

Healthcare Response

2022000951 — 2024-03-10 12:14:22 UTC

Both events highlight the importance of public health measures, it provides safety restrictions it just that the COVID-19 pandemic presents unique challenges due to its rapid spread and global interconnectedness.