Cholera 1902 - Corona 2019: A Mirror of the Past by JULIENNE PHYNTOINETTE NARTEA

Cholera affecting Livelihoods (Key Event 2)

2022013361 — 2024-03-01 12:04:40 UTC

In the Mariquina valley, the Filipino provincial medical officer and his American counterpart requested of easing the quarantine restrictions for the following reasons: past harvests had been poor; war conditions had hindered planting in the past three years; the previous crop had been destroyed by locusts; now the quarantine was preventing peasants from tilling their fields. (p. 142)

Covid affecting Livelihoods (Key Event 2)

2022013361 — 2024-03-01 12:04:59 UTC

According to Fallesen (2023), the impact of COVID-19 on rural livelihoods has been severe. The main issues facing impoverished communities in the Philippines were loss of income and employment opportunities. Pre-existing issues like low income opportunities and pay reductions had gotten much worse because of COVID. Additionally, there were problems with nutrition, hygiene, and health as well as an inadequate food supply.

Cholera Government Response

2022013361 — 2024-03-01 12:05:48 UTC

Isolation in the Farola district - the epicenter of the cholera epidemic was the Farola District. The infected were isolated and the area was cordoned off.

Covid Government Response

2022013361 — 2024-03-01 12:06:56 UTC

ECQ measures - According to the article by Magsambol(2021), Manila was heavily affected by the virus, which lead to the implementation of a ‘General community quarantine’(GCQ)

Reflection on Key Event 2

2022013361 — 2024-03-01 12:07:20 UTC

The key events of Cholera had a "de ja vu" moment during COVID . These said past events had a significant impact on our present. These historical narratives tells us how much we have grown or declined. And given that our country had experienced Cholera, it puts pressure on the (now former) government officials on how they could've handled COVID better.

Reflection on Government Response

2022013361 — 2024-03-01 12:07:40 UTC

isolation of individuals-

Regardless of people’s infection status, the people who were in contact with or are infected, were separated from healthy members of the population.

Cholera Public Health Measures

2022013361 — 2024-03-01 12:08:50 UTC

Inhabitants were moved to detention camps, ports were closed, burning of contaminated nipa hut houses, removal of contacts to detention camps, detention in houses, cremation of infected cadavers

Covid Public Health Measures

2022013361 — 2024-03-01 12:09:43 UTC

Travel restrictions, border controls, quarantine of travelers arriving from affected countries, city lockdown, prohibitions on mass gatherings, isolation and confinement of confirmed cases and their contacts, social distancing measures, mandatory mask wearing, contact tracing and testing, closure of schools, and the use of personal protective equipment by health workers (Ayouni et al., 2021)

Reflection on Public Health Measures

2022013361 — 2024-03-01 12:10:27 UTC

Public Health Measures on both Cholera and COVIDhad quarantine restrictions, travel restrictions, prohibition of mass gatherings, removal of contact between infected individuals with their families, isolation in their own homes, the idea of cremation as infected cadavers are still capable of infecting. Both Cholera and COVID had lapses on handling the situation at hand but given that we had already experience Cholera before puts pressure on how the (now former) government officials handled COVID when it first came to light. It just shows that it wasn't Filipinos taking control on the public health measures during the Cholera era.

Cholera Impact in Society

2022013361 — 2024-03-01 12:11:26 UTC

Rumors of poisoned wine and strychnine poisoning - Rumors of patients dropping dead after drinking poisoned vino or wine, along with strychnine, helped spread fear and mistrust of the Americans to the locals.

Reflection on the Impact in Society

2022013361 — 2024-03-01 12:12:08 UTC

Covid Impact in Society

2022013361 — 2024-03-01 12:13:12 UTC

Rumors of COVID vaccines having adverse effects - People believed that the vaccine may have adverse effects, an article by the CDC(2023) debunked these rumors like, ingredients being unsafe, negative effects on fertility, and even people being magnetic. These rumors were circulated primarily on online forums and based around hearsay.

Cholera 1st Case (Key Event 1)

2022013361 — 2024-03-01 13:21:28 UTC

the arrival of a hong kong vessel on Manila-

The vessel from Hong Kong arrived in Manila on 1902, with the ship’s bill of health recording the presence of cholera among the crew. The first cases were discovered on the Farola district, where fishermen, smugglers, and stevedores were located.

Covid 1st Case (Key Event 1)

2022013361 — 2024-03-01 13:22:14 UTC

Chinese nationals arriving to the Philippines for a vacation-

In the report by Edarada et al. (2020) they recounted how the index cases in the Philippines were from two Chinese nationals, vacationing to the Philippines. They were given PCR tests that were detected to be positive for COVID.

Reflection on Impact in Society

2022013361 — 2024-03-01 13:48:52 UTC

Though the plights of the local Filipinos were more understandable, the need to unite against a common enemy during a time of crisis helped people to feel less alone in their struggles brought upon by the disease they’re facing.

Reflection on Key Event 1

2024-03-01 14:12:12 UTC

Foreign diseases being introduced by foreigners -

The introduction of a foreign disease and the subsequent failure of the government to contain them, has a striking similarity from both cases.

References

2024-03-01 14:18:08 UTC

Ayouni, I., Maatoug, J., Dhouib, W., Zammit, N., Fredj, S. B., Ghammam, R., & Ghannem, H. (2021). Effective public health measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19: a systematic review. BMC Public Health, 21(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-11111-1

COVID-19 vaccine facts. (2023, September 27). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/facts.html

Edrada, E. M., López, E., Villarama, J. B., Villarama, E. P. S., Dagoc, B. F., Smith, C., Sayo, A. R., Verona, J. A., Trifalgar-Arches, J., Lazaro, J., Balinas, E. G. M., Telan, E. F. O., Roy, L., Galon, M., Florida, C. H. N., Ukawa, T., Villaneuva, A. M. G., Saito, N., Nepomuceno, J. R., . . . Solante, R. (2020). First COVID-19 infections in the Philippines: a case report. Tropical Medicine and Health, 48(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41182-020-00203-0

Fallesen, D. (2023, October 2). How COVID-19 impacted vulnerable communities in the Philippines. World Bank Blogs. https://blogs.worldbank.org/eastasiapacific/how-covid-19-impacted-vulnerable-communities-philippines#:~:text=COVID%2D19%20has%20taken%20a,and%20its%20severe%20economic%20impact.

Magsambol, B. (2021, March 19). PH logs over 7,000 COVID-19 cases, highest since pandemic began. RAPPLER. https://www.rappler.com/nation/coronavirus-cases-philippines-march-19-2021/