TBK Tells - COV 19 around the world, what it's like to live through a Pandemic, one year on

 
         

        Fish and Chips- during COV 19- Thanks to the Frying Scotsman in Bahrain

Ever one to spot an opportunity when Chester heard of my plan to stay in Bahrain for a month then move to Dubai for a month then Doha etc. until the Philippines allows me in, he suggested writing a Blog about how Cov 19 is affecting each country

So here we go:

Bahrain

A constantly changing situation. Being an Island initial control was easy, with the Saudi Causeway closed and the Airport. 50% work from home, classes on line and massage parlours, hairdressers and gyms plus restaurants all closed in March 2020. Things eased up at the end of September with inside dining allowed, hairdressing allowed (as long as the hairdresser and client are wrapped in plastic and masked). For the restaurants a maximum of 30 customers indoors was imposed.  (a big blow to 300 seat restaurants like Cheesecake!). Then in February indoor dining was banned again and the only people who seemed to be doing well were Talibat. (food delivery). I am now staying in a 4-star hotel and get my breakfast delivered to my suite daily in a polystyrene box with plastic cutlery, coffee in a paper cup, salt and tomato ketchup, jam and butter in sachets and plastic cutlery which breaks when I use it! Masks litter the streets and the bins are full of materials that cannot be recycled.

               

          Abandoned masks litter car parks and walkways all over Bahrain

There is a massive drive to get everyone vaccinated and everyone is urged to report contact with anyone COV 19 positive to a dedicated help line - 444. However the feedback I have had from two friends who found themselves in this situation was not good. 

One said "I almost memorized the names of the CS agents in 444 (covid19 hotline) due to gazillion calls I made but only got the same generic scripted response from them (444) . They kept telling me to just wait 10 days for the 444 to return call to schedule the swab testing. They told me I did not need to make all these follow-up calls!

It's desperately hopeless to be an expat from a third-world country ( Philippines)  as obviously we are the least priority. It has been 5 days since the Health Ministry contact-traced me as one of my clients tested Covid19 positive. The Health Ministry instructed me to shut my shop , go home,  self-isolate and wait for the call from 444 for the next step and instructions. Now only God knows as to when I will hear from 444 again. " 

The other said:

"Since Covid  19 started last year I didn't expect that I came this far to be "one of those people who are in Quarantine". Although, I am not infected but I had a direct contact with an infected person. The Ministry of Health protocol is that I should undergo a swab test and then self isolate for 10 days which I did not expect. It's because I don't have enough food and I cant go out to buy some stocks. After the swab test they made me go directly to my room and start my isolation. I was really surprised because I was not prepared for this.

Day 1 of my self isolation I was bored.  I really did not know what to do. I was  stressed as well because I was waiting for the result of my swab test.  I feel like I am going crazy because a lot of "what if" comes in my mind. What if I am positive? What if I loss my job? So I cant stop thinking about it. After 12 hrs. I called 444 for the result of my test and praise God I am negative. But still, I cant celebrate too early as I have to have an exit swab test. While I am on my self isolation I kept myself busy to avoid thinking of those "what if" questions. Its not easy being quarantined for 10 days especially  when you are all alone. As my experience, we should not under estimate the Covid 19. We should take care of ourselves and always pray that this Covid 19 will be gone forever. This Covid 19 will be part of our history soon."

He was stuck at home with his flatmate for 10 days with no food. When I found out I got him to send me a shopping list and delivered him food before he starved to death.

UK

Another constantly changing feast so I am informed as they went from tier 1 to 4 , with support bubbles allowed then not allowed. Quarantine is mandatory on arrival at your own expense for 14 days. At one point I was going to rent a log cabin in Scotland but I was told it is now closed. The other problem with the UK is that once you get it you cannot get out as most countries backlisted people arriving from UK where a new strain of Cov 19 was found. Therefore I have been told to avoid it like the Plague! However there is light at the end of the tunnel ( or is it another train coming?!) with kids back to school there on 8th March.

They have had 123 ,000 deaths so far and the current advice is :

"Under current UK COVID-19 restrictions, you must stay at home. You must not travel, including abroad, unless you have a legally permitted reason to do so. It is illegal to travel abroad for holidays and other leisure purposes."

Recently I had an invite to my first "on line" funeral for John Hampson who sadly died recently. It is so sad when you cannot even grieve with family, friends and work colleagues in real life any more. Having learnt late on in my working life how to deliver on line training I really do not want to go out with Evan reading out the rules for the online funeral ( cameras on, mobiles off, lock up your younger brothers, raise you hand of you want to cry) and Zainab doing the Safety Health Environment and Quality moment ( Dearly beloved, we are hear today because Neil was being driven by Corleen who was texting and went through a red light)

No, No, no!

Thailand 

According to Martin Peters you pay to do Quarantine ( 14 days) on the way in and that’s it. They have only had 83 deaths so far  and while you can eat out no alcohol is served and the restaurants have to close by 11 pm

       Love his mask!

According to one website:

"Travel Restrictions Limited inbound tourist flights are operating. Cargo, emergency, and repatriation flights and government aircraft can continue operating. Thai authorities are allowing travelers from 56 locations to enter the country without visas. Passengers must still obtain a Certificate of Entry from a Thai embassy if they are foreigners, test negative for COVID-19 within 72 hours before the trip, provide evidence of a quarantine facility booking, and isolate for two weeks at the designated facilities upon arrival. Officials have increased the length of visas from 30 to 45 days. The 56 locations are Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bahrain, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, San Marino, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, UAE, the UK, the US, and Vietnam. People from all other locations must still obtain a special tourist visa to enter Thailand; these travelers must also quarantine at designated facilities for two weeks upon arrival."

The Philippines

The most obvious thing to say is that tourists have been unable to get a visa for a year ( hence I am stuck in Bahrain, writing this). Whilst in rich countries with a good IT infrastructure like Bahrain it was easy for the schools to switch to on line learning this was a real problem for the Philippines. Stories abound of kids sat in cars outside schools and hotels to use their Wi-Fi to join class. In other areas where they have limited internet or tablets the schools issued printed modules ( workbooks) for the children to complete at home.

The vaccine has not yet arrived and basic sanitization measures are in place with masks and face shields compulsory in cities like Puerto Princessa and a night time curfew in place

CALAUIT SAFARI PARK- Palawan, now open to local tourists

Charities like HOPE have been distributing paper to the schools to print the modules on and tablets to selected children to study on line. As usual special thinks to Mama Jam Fernandez and his family and friends for supporting the kids in the El Nido area.

I had hoped to be there and have lots of paper to donate, but its all in storage with my 53 cases of sea freight in Puerto Princessa until the Philippine Embassy will give me a visa to help out more.

One of the HOPE volunteers delivering two reams of paper to print modules on at Pasadena Elementary school.

Just in from Chester , in Manila:

"I've read your The Philippines entry but mostly shows how it is in the province, where the restriction are not as much felt so here's my COVID piece from Ground zero itself, welcome to the metropolis :)))

Metro Manila, considered as COVID 19's ground zero in the Philippines, has already been a year in lockdown since March 2020 aptly named as ECQ>MECQ>GCQ>MGCQ which progresses as the case numbers improve. "Q" stands for Quarantine with protocols in place to reduce community infection.

Since it's pretty much the world sharing the same pandemic-centric activities, here's a glimpse of how I lived for the past 12 months.

                  Personally I think Chester looks much better in his COV 19 PPE! Charot. 

1. We are only allowed to go out for necessities and must be in complete uniform: A face mask, face shield and a digital pass to monitor our "ins and outs" 

2. Curfew hours from 5 AM to 8 PM signaled by this alarm which sounds like it's ripped-off from an anarchy, post-apocalyptic, dystopian, thriller movie.

It has been a steady and boring hiatus but thankful that me and my family are COVID free. " 

Thanks to all my friends there for your updates- stay safe and I hope to join you soon!

The United States of America

I asked my good friend AJ for an update on how things are shaping up with new President Joe Biden. He tells me..

"Cases are coming down, but a large portion of the United states didn't get free masks or stimulus after the first year. We mostly kept to ourselves, but a lot of people caught the disease. My mom, sister and grandmother, and grandfather were all exposed during the winter holidays when they set up Christmas ornaments together (they all had masks on). My grandma, and mom ended up catching the virus, and still have long term symptoms. I wonder if her cough will ever go away or if this is just another thing we all have to live with.

The primary took forever, but I'm glad Biden won (and Buttigieg quit at the right time). My husband has a few older sisters that live in Virginia and Georgia, the three of them voted for Trump, but the middle sister (Robyn) ended up changing her vote to Biden. She only revealed this secret two weeks after the election, when Trump kept lying about the results. I'm pretty sure the other candidates would've lost, when Fox News lies, people genuinely believe it. Joe Biden was basically the only candidate that couldn't easily be castigated in one role. Pete being new to politics would've been made into a conspiracy that would have been nigh impossible to dispel. Joe Biden is a pretty decent president, things are mostly the same right now. Out of the four friends I grew up with in Bahrain, most of them were jobless by the beginning of 2021. Amazon fired one of my friends, a phone store in Michigan layed off another friend, and a call center in Virginia that another works at ended up getting slammed with Covid cases so he ended up moving on. The new President actually gives a f**k about the negotiations process, we don't have to worry about stimulus getting shot down just because of one person. The country isn't as split apart as the media makes it seem, although the previous President made a lot of his own supporters go crazy for the election results, most people around the town we live in weren't like that. Part of me believes everyone is sick of all the lies and crazy conspiracies, another part of me never thought Fox news would do anything but tell lies. If in the future the Fox news media empire just did one thing, I would want it to stop spreading bullsh-t so much. The United States can deal with its challenges when it stops listening to its own propaganda.

So far 516,000 people died of COV 19 in USA- Well on the way to my prediction of 

1 million deaths

I hope that gives you a quick round up - wherever you are stay safe and share a prayer for the 2.55 million people around the world that have died from this horrible disease.

Kita kits ( when they give me a visa!) and Ingat Palagi

I will end on a semi humorous note with this wonderful advert from the UK on the proper care of your mask. There has been much talk of COV 19 fatigue and those fortunate enough to have the vaccine feeling invincible, and not needing to follow simple basic precautions. So I loved this advert for making a serious point, but in a humorous way

This blog was inspired, like so many others, by Chester Delos- Santos in the Philippines, and my special thanks to all my friends around the world who contributed.