PH stops deployment of Filipino health workers
The Philippines has temporarily suspended the deployment of health care professionals abroad amid the coronavirus pandemic to guarantee that the country itself has a sufficient number of medical front-liners. The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration last week approved the resolution to suspend sending Filipino health care workers abroad until the current crisis is over. Signed by…
California to add 50,000 new hospital beds
AS California continues to fight the novel coronavirus outbreak, Governor Gavin Newsom said the state is slated to add 50,000 new hospital beds. The state this week has secured 4,613 additional beds at alternate care sites and shuttered hospitals to anticipate the surge in COVID-19 patients, Newsom said during a press briefing on Monday, April…
COVID-19 cases in PH climb to 3,764
The Philippine Department of Health on Tuesday, April 7, reported 104 new cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country, bringing the official count to 3,764. “More than half or more or less 80% [of the cases] were recorded in Metro Manila,” noted Health chief Francisco Duque III. The Davao region and Central Visayas…
PH gov’t extends Luzon-wide community quarantine to April 30
The enhanced community quarantine in Luzon will be extended until April 30 to further contain the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country, a cabinet official said on Tuesday, April 7. Previously, the quarantine was set to end on April 14. President Rodrigo Duterte approved the recommendation of the Inter-Agency Task Force for…
Over 300 Asians test positive for COVID-19 in LA County
MORE than 300 individuals of Asian descent have tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Los Angeles County, according to new data released by the Department of Public Health this week. The latest numbers from the department included a breakdown of cases by race and ethnicity for the first time since the outbreak began in…
LA County expands free testing to anyone with symptoms
Any Los Angeles County resident exhibiting symptoms of the novel coronavirus can now be tested for free, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced on Monday, April 7. The previous guidelines limited testing to residents over 65 years old, individuals who are immunocompromised, or those who were subjected to a 14-day quarantine because of exposure to a confirmed…
Magdasal po tayo ng sama-sama: Lenten reflections and prayers as we all carry the cross of the coronavirus
SEMANA SANTA. For the first time in my lifetime, my family will not be able to go to church for the mass of the palaspas, stations of the cross, washing of the feet, seven last words, retreats and recollections, salubong, confession, Visita Iglesia, Easter Sunday mass — traditions that we all share as Filipinos and…
‘Staying away from grandma’ isn’t an option in multigenerational homes
THE Walker family never thought having an age range of 3 to 96 under the same roof would be risky. That was before the coronavirus pandemic. Wilma Walker’s now nonagenarian mom moved into her daughter and son-in-law’s home about 15 years ago. Their party of three turned into a household of six when the Walkers’…
After COVID-19: Doctors ponder best advice as patients recover from coronavirus
by Carmen Heredia Rodriguez WHEN David Vega fell ill with the novel coronavirus in mid-March, fever, chills and nausea left the 27-year-old Indiana medical student curled up in bed for days. After a test confirmed he had COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, his doctor advised Vega to isolate himself at home for an…
Filipino health care workers on the coronavirus front lines
Several years ago, I produced a special TV report on the topic, “What would happen if Filipino health care professionals in the U.S. do not report for work?” The point I wanted to make was the vital role that Filipino doctors and nurses, and other health-care professionals, play in America’s health-care system. In the face…
Family law issues during the COVID-19 pandemic
THE COVID-19 Pandemic has changed our lives almost overnight. Not only has it changed our lives in terms of our daily routine, jobs, lifestyle, but also our relationship with our family members under the Stay at Home orders in place in major cities such as Los Angeles, Divorce caused by financial and emotional stress China…
Love as the center of gravity
“… And now faith, hope and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is LOVE.” THIS Holy Week when the churches are empty because of mandatory shelter-in-place isolation and forced social distancing caused by the Wuhan China coronavirus pandemic that has affected more than 150 countries, it is a good idea to tune…
Actress Iza Calzado shares her battle with COVID-19
AFTER battling the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), ABS-CBN actress Iza Calzado candidly shared her experience. During an interview on “Magandang Buhay” on Monday, April 6, she said the symptoms she had were fever, cough and loss of appetite. After she was confined in the hospital, the doctors found that she had also contracted a bacteria called…
Filipina chess master Arianne Caoili dies after car crash
Filipina-Australian chess champion Arianne Caoili died on Monday, March 30, two weeks after sustaining injuries from a car accident in Yerevan, Armenia. She was 33 years old. Her husband, Armenian grandmaster Levon Aronian, announced her passing on Twitter. “I have no words to express my grief over my wife Arianne’s death,” he wrote. “She was…
A nurse’s firsthand account amid the pandemic: ‘It’s not a matter of if, but when’
Written by Jessica H., an acute care registered nurse in Orange County I found the usual path too hectic. The walk from the parking structure to the main hospital building was brief, but I preferred to take the back route. It was quieter, with less frenzy from the hurried feet scurrying by. The walk was…
Fil-Am designers shift from dress making to sewing masks to fill shortage
For several Filipino American designers, the spring season usually brings in orders for wedding dresses, debutante gowns, and outfits for other special occasions. But amid the coronavirus pandemic, cities like Los Angeles have ordered the closure of nonessential businesses and put large gatherings on hold. Instead of sitting idly by, designers are re-shifting their focus…
5 Filipinos land on Forbes Asia’s ‘30 Under 30’ list
FIVE Filipinos made it onto Forbes’s “30 Under 30 Asia” list for “challenging conventional wisdom and rewriting the rules for the next generation.” The 2020 roster, released on Thursday, April 2, includes skateboarder Margielyn Didal, The Cacao Project founder Louise Mabulo, PayMongo founder Francis Plaza, gymnast Carlos Yulo, and multimedia artist Breech Asher Harani. “This year’s…
Coronavirus cases around the world surpass 1 million
The total number of recorded novel coronavirus (COVID-19) cases worldwide has surpassed one million on Thursday, April 2, three months after the first case was reported in Wuhan, China. Over 1,095,000 people around the world have contracted the disease, with 58,787 fatalities and 225,796 recoveries, as of Friday, April 3, according to the latest figures…
Duterte faces backlash over ‘shoot to kill’ order for quarantine violators
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte came under fire after ordering the police and military to shoot quarantine violators dead during Luzon’s enhanced community quarantine due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). “I will not hesitate. My orders are to the police and military, also the barangay, that if there is trouble or the situation arises that people…
About the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (Part 1 of 2)
PRESIDENT Trump signed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act on March 18 to bring much needed relief to employees and small to midsize businesses. Small and midsize employers can begin taking advantage of two new refundable payroll tax credits designed to immediately and fully reimburse them, dollar-for-dollar, for the cost of providing Coronavirus-related leave to…
Beneficiaries to receive cash aid in full — DSWD
Low-income households will be receiving between P5,000 to P8,000 in cash under the Philippine government’s coronavirus relief program, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said on Thursday, April 2. The cash will be given along with the food packs it is distributing to beneficiaries, according to DSWD Secretary Rolando Bautista. “In cash na…
California’s two largest public higher ed systems temporarily ease admission requirements
UC, CSU cite mass disruptions to K-12 schools in decisions to change requirements for 2021 and incoming fall 2020 students In response to the novel coronavirus outbreak that has upended the lives of students in California, the University of California (UC) and California State University (Cal State) systems announced they would be relaxing its admissions…
LA County officials discuss immigrant rights, price gouging
The new coronavirus, and the ways in which it has drastically capsized daily life for people across the world, has become the most pressing, quite literally life or death, issue of the new decade. Global pandemics affect everyone regardless of demographic markers, but in a world where justice and equity aren’t guaranteed, some communities are…
Recovering insurance payments for coronavirus losses
THESE are challenging times for California small businesses. Restaurants, retail stores, and other services sustained (and continue to sustain) coronavirus-related losses. Their damages resulted from severe business interruption, event cancellation, loss of supply chains, and loss of customers among other damages. However, business owners may seek to obtain payments for losses if their business insurance…
An unprecedented Holy Week ahead
This Passion/Palm Sunday is the beginning of Holy Week. Sadly, we will not able to celebrate Holy Week in our churches because of the carnivorous pandemic. It’s a huge cross that we all need to carry. We can’t gather as communities of faith to get our palms blessed and celebrate the Triduum Masses (Holy Thursday,…
This is World War III
The fight against the C-19 pandemic is a war, a war of global proportions. It is World War III, although it does not follow our stereotypes of combat in wartime; think World War II, or even, the many regional conflicts since. World War III does not follow our familiar paradigms about war. We do not…
URGENT CALL: To beat the coronavirus pandemic, all states should follow CA’s lead and be on a ‘stay at home’ order
THE WAR against the coronavirus pandemic that has caught the world by surprise in January has made us all feel like the normal, free, and vibrant life we lived just three months ago feel like ages ago. No matter how much we resist it, no matter how uncomfortable and vulnerable it makes us feel, this…
Filing bankruptcy when you can’t pay your bills
A LOT of people in debt often already know what they need to do once they realize that bankruptcy is their only way out. But they usually delay the decision to file because they try their best to avoid it if at all possible and will only rush to act when they face an immediate…