Metro Manila, Laguna and Cebu City will continue operating under a “modified enhanced community quarantine” until the end of the month, following President Rodrigo Duterte’s approval. This decision to extend the quarantine from May 16 to 31 came after Duterte’s meeting with the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases on Monday…
INTERNATIONAL arrivals into Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport resumed on Monday, May 11 following new guidelines. The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) released a Notice to Airmen over the weekend, specifying a new schedule for international chartered and commercial flights to ease congestion into the country’s main gateway. Chartered flights will be allowed…
There are now 2,233 positive cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, among overseas Filipinos, according to the latest figures released by the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs. The DFA’s daily count on Tuesday, May 12 also announced one new death, bringing the death toll of 261. Meanwhile, 669 individuals have now…
A Filipino American registered nurse has been appointed director of global standards and qualifications of CGFNS International, Inc., the world’s largest credentials evaluation organization specializing in the nursing and allied health care professions. Jasper Tolarba, a Fulbright scholar, will assume the new position responsible for the oversight of global standards and qualifications for nursing and…
AS Los Angeles County’s “safer at home” order is slated to expire this week, officials are now recommending that it be extended for another three months in a continued effort to diminish the spread of the novel coronavirus. The county’s current emergency order was set to be lifted on Friday, May 15. The possibility for an…
From denouncing anti-Asian sentiments to explaining economic relief options, several Filipino American elected officials in California came together in a recent town hall to share resources available to the community during the coronavirus pandemic. Hosted by the Pilipino American Los Angeles Democrats (PALAD) on Saturday, May 2, the conversation included officials on the federal, state…
On National Nurses Day, a Filipina nurse who died on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic was memorialized with a candlelight vigil in front of CHA Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital in Los Angeles, where she had worked for 16 years. Some 200 individuals — including colleagues, community leaders, family and friends — came together on…
Experts discuss the scope of the COVID-19 pandemic through the eyes of AAPI first responders On a regular day, working in a hospital can present unbelievable scenarios that strain the mind, body and heart. During a pandemic, that magnifies to a degree of which most people will never see the likes. The greater population, in…
Although the number of cases and deaths related to the novel coronavirus continues to rise, state and Los Angeles County officials have begun relaxing some of the shelter-in-place rules to slowly reopen the California economy. LA County reported 51 new deaths due to the COVID-19 virus, adding to the county’s overall death toll of 1,468…
HAS the Philippines flattened the coronavirus curve? A local epidemiology expert thinks so, citing the recent decline in the number of new cases and fatalities due to the virus. According to Dr. John Wong, who serves on the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF), the doubling time for the confirmed cases has slowed…
Over 40,000 more overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who were displaced due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic are set to arrive back to the Philippines. “More than 40,000 OFWs are to be repatriated. That might even be a conservative estimate because we have yet to include in the count medium- to long-term economic effect of…
THE Department of Health on Wednesday, May 6, reported 320 new cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country, the highest single-day leap recorded in a month. This brings the total number of infected individuals to 10,004. Of the new infections, 179 or 56 percent came from the outbreak epicenter Metro Manila, while 98…
NEARLY 2,000 Filipinos globally have tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, according to the latest figures released by the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs. The DFA on Wednesday, May 6 reported 38 new cases of COVID-19 among overseas Filipinos, bringing the official count to 1,905. “Today, the total number of…
by Momar G. Visaya and Christina M. Oriel In honor of the 200th anniversary of Florence Nightingale, the World Health Organization declared 2020 as the “International Year of the Nurse and Midwife.” The American Nurses Association followed suit by adopting the same observance for this year. Wednesday, May 6 marks National Nurses Day, the annual…
All international flights to and from the Philippines will remain suspended until May 8, following the approval of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases. However, official flights, emergency flights, cargo ambulance and medical supply flights, weather mitigation flights, maintenance flights, and international flights for stranded foreign nationals are exempted from…
As California Governor Gavin Newsom announced a plan this week to begin loosening some restrictions, Filipino American business owners whose retail stores have been closed for the past two months are mulling whether to reopen under new modifications. Newsom on Monday, May 4 unveiled stage two of reopening lower-risk workplaces — which were previously deemed…
For the past 16 years, Celia Lardizabal Marcos was a telemetry charge nurse at a Hollywood area hospital — the same hospital where she died of complications related to the novel coronavirus on Friday, April 17. Two days before her death, the 61-year-old Filipina nurse was admitted to CHA Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, where she…
A LOCAL Filipino American organization in Los Angeles’ Historic Filipinotown has launched a new nationwide program to provide working families with supplies and other resources during the coronavirus pandemic. The Pilipino Workers Center (PWC) unveiled its Community Care Program, which includes the Care Box Program, Care Fund, Care Meals, COVID-19 Relief Fund, Virtual Town Halls,…
After crowds of people packed beaches across Orange County during last weekend’s heatwave, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday, April 30 shutdown beaches across the Orange County coastline, prompting ire from local officials. Newsom’s decision to close down Orange County beaches — in what he called a “temporary pause” — follows a weekend heatwave in which…
In a major development in Los Angeles’ response to the coronavirus pandemic, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced that free testing at city-run sites would be available to all residents, even to those who show no symptoms. This makes LA the first major city in the United States to offer free testing to all residents regardless of…
Working senior citizens in Luzon will not be placed on house arrest during the enforcement of the general community quarantine, the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease clarified on Thursday, April 30. The task force reminded those with significant health risks and of certain age groups that they should remain in…
At 81 years old, Dr. Arthur Tayengco had no plans of retiring and continued seeing patients at his private practice along Charleston Blvd in Las Vegas. An obstetrician-gynecologist for over 50 years, Tayengco practiced until he physically couldn’t anymore after he contracted COVID-19, the disease linked to the novel coronavirus. “He loved medicine. He just…
PHILIPPINE Airlines will continue offering flights for Filipinos who need to be repatriated from the United States amid the coronavirus pandemic. The national carrier is scheduled to operate special flights to Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport from both Los Angeles (LAX) and New York (JFK). The LA to Manila flights are scheduled on May 5,…
Nearly 300 new cases of the coronavirus have been recorded in the Philippines, the Department of Health said on Thursday, April 30. The department announced 276 new cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, in the country, bringing the official count to 8,488. Ten new deaths were also reported, raising the death…
Nevada is the latest state to outline a coordinated plan to reopen its economy, Governor Steve Sisolak announced on Thursday, April 30. Called the Roadmap to Recovery, Sisolak laid out goals under the plan, which include reducing the transmission of the novel coronavirus, reopening the state’s economy in a tiered approach, and preparing the health…
MARIA Guia Cabillon, fondly called by many as Mama Guia, spent more than three decades of her life as a nurse. She was described as the “number one ally, caregiver and mom to the nurses and staunchly protected all the techs” and “a legend.” Cabillon was the Head Nurse at Kings County Department of Emergency…
PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte is willing to give a P20 million reward to any Filipino who can develop a durable respirator that will be used to help patients who contracted the novel coronavirus, Malacañang said on Tuesday, April 28. According to Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, the respirators should “outlast” the lives of the patients. “Nagbigay ng…
OVER 1,300 health care workers in the Philippines have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, according to the Department of Health. The latest figures on Tuesday, April 28 show that 1,336 health care professionals have contracted COVID-19. Of the infected, 493 doctors, 507 nurses, 74 nursing assistants, 47 medical technologists, 28 radio technologists, 11 midwives…
THE United Nations this week raised concern over the “toxic lockdown culture” that several countries have adopted as they fight the coronavirus pandemic, citing the Philippines’ “highly militarized response” to violators of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ). UN High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet on Monday, April 27 noted that 120,000 Filipinos have been arrested for violating…
Orders in effect until May 31 SEVEN Bay Area jurisdictions announced this week that they will begin easing restrictions on certain activities, as shelter-in-place orders have been extended until 31. The counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara as well as the City of Berkeley, an independent public health…
