2019-NCOV faqs (FILIPINO) mga faqs ukol sa novel corona virus disease (covid-19)
**1. Ano ang coronaviruses?**
Ang coronaviruses ay pamilya ng mga virus na nagdudulot ng iba’t ibang klaseng sakit, mula sa karaniwang ubo’t sipon hanggang sa mas malulubhang impeksyon tulad ng MERS-CoV at SARS-CoV. Ang coronavirus ay maaari ring magdulot ng iba’t ibang sakit sa mga hayop.
**2. Ano ang novel coronavirus?**
Ang novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) ay isang bagong uri ng coronavirus na hindi pa natatagpuan sa mga tao noon. Ang 2019-nCoV ay nagdulot ng malalang pneumonia sa ilang tao sa Tsina at kumalat na rin sa iba pang mga syudad at bansa.
Noong ika-30 ng Enero 2020, inirekomenda ng World Health Organization na palitan ang opisyal na pangalan nito sa “2019 novel coronavirus Acute Respiratory Disease” o 2019-nCoV ARD.
**3. Saan nagmula ang novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV)?**
Noong ika-31 ng Disyembre 2019, naitala ang ilang kaso ng pneumonia sa Wuhan, China. Napag-alaman kamakailan lamang na ang mga kaso ay dulot pala ng isang uri ng hindi pa kilalang coronavirus. Ang coronavirus na ito ay karaniwang sa hayop lamang natatagpuan, at hindi pa nakita sa mga tao noon.
**4. Anu-ano ang mga sintomas at kumplikasyong dulot ng coronavirus infection?**
Ang mga karaniwang sintomas na dulot ng coronavirus ay lagnat, ubo’t sipon, hirap at pag-iksi ng paghinga at iba pang problema sa daluyan ng hangin. Sa mga malulubhang kaso, maaari itong maging sanhi ng pneumonia, acute respiratory syndrome, problema sa bato, at pagkamatay.
**5. Paano naikakalat ang 2019-nCov?**
Noong ika-24 ng Enero 2020, kinumpirma ng World Health Organization na ang 2019-nCoV ay naipapasa tao-sa-tao. Ngunit wala pang sapat na ebidensyang nagpapatunay sa tindi at bilis ng pagkahawa nito, maging ang orihinal na pinanggalingan ng outbreak.
Masugid pa ring pinag-aaralan ng mga eksperto ang pinaggalingan ng sakit at kung paano ito kumakalat. Bagama’t napatunayan na iba ito sa SARS at MERS, ang bilis ng pagkalat at bagsik nito ay patuloy pang inaalam.
**6. May gamot ba sa 2019-nCoV?**
Wala pang gamot o treatment sa 2019-nCoV. Ngunit marami sa sintomas nito ang maaaring gamutin base sa kalagayang pangkalusugan ng pasyente. Mabisa rin ang masugid na pag-aalaga at pagsuporta o supportive care para sa mga pasyente.
The pandemic
The pandemic was bad enough, transporting patient after patient with Covid-19 symptoms, but it was something else that worried the veteran doctor who'd spent 11 years riding in a Mexico City public ambulance. https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/30/americas/latin-america-covid-19-epicenter-intl/index.html https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/15/americas/mexico-coronavirus-testing-intl/index.html
"At home he would say, 'Let's stay apart from each other.' He wanted to keep us safe because he knew his working conditions weren't safe," his wife Nancy Edith Alba Cuéllar told CNN in an interview.
The father of three girls told her his ambulance crew hadn't been given the proper protective equipment such as gloves, coveralls and masks to keep them safe. He'd complained to his bosses, she said, but they'd respond there wasn't more money available for better supplies.
Still, he kept doing his job. It was mid-April when he started feeling sick.
By April 20, Dr. Pérez had been hospitalized with a confirmed case of Covid-19. On April 22, he typed out his last message to his family before being intubated.
'Be very careful. I love you all,' he texted his wife. He passed away a few days later.
Dr. Pérez
Dr. Pérez was one of several dozen public paramedics who colleagues claim were infected because the government failed to supply the equipment needed against the highly infectious disease. https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/10/politics/nursing-homes-ppe-defective-equipment-fema/index.html
Latin America is losing the battle against coronavirus https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/06/americas/latin-america-coronavirus-intl/index.html
In response to CNN's request for comment regarding allegations of improper PPE gear, the federal agencies that manage the paramedics said proper equipment is provided. They declined to provide numbers on how many staff have contracted Covid-19 or have died from it.
CNN interviewed seven paramedics and one doctor who work in Mexico City public ambulances, belonging to two different sections of the country's Health Ministry. All eight said they feel a sense of betrayal because they argue the government has not helped to keep them safe.
"From the beginning we took precautions," said Fatima Torrés, a 29-year-old paramedic who tested positive for the virus. "But we didn't have much material to avoid contamination."
'I don't know anyone who goes to work and isn't afraid'
Mexico is suffering through the worst days of the epidemic so far, with 129,184 confirmed cases and 15,357 confirmed deaths as of Wednesday, though health officials say the true numbers are likely much higher than that. https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/06/americas/latin-america-coronavirus-intl/index.html
On the frontlines are the paramedics, shuttling patients to hospitals across the city. In interviews with CNN, they described many shortcomings with protective equipment, including poor-quality masks (not the N95 masks recommended to protect healthcare workers), no face shields unless they bought their own, a short supply of gloves, poor-quality goggles and coveralls, and no equipment to isolate Covid-19 patients inside ambulances.
Torn safety suits.
Plastic isolation capsules are not provided inside their work vehicles, so paramedics described taping up garbage bags around the cabin to isolate patients as much as possible.
"I don't know anyone who goes to work and isn't afraid," said Oscar Prado, a paramedic who has worked in a public ambulance for 10 years. "The level of stress we're working under is immense and we're angry that we're not getting the proper support from our superiors."
Every paramedic we spoke to had bought some extra supplies, ranging from N95 masks to swimming goggles and snorkels to hazmat suits.
One man, speaking anonymously for fear of losing his job, said once the supplies he bought run out, he's not going to go back to work. "It's not worth it. They're sending you to war without anything. You don't send firefighters to a fire without equipment. It's the same for us."
A government response that doesn't add up
Mexico City's public ambulance fleet is a patchwork group of units, spanning several different government agencies and ministries. The city relies on a large number of private, for-profit ambulances and volunteer groups like the Red Cross to help meet its emergency medical needs.
Even without a global pandemic, paramedics say their numbers are insufficient to service the city's population of about 21 million people. https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/29/americas/coronavirus-costa-rica-brazil-analysis-intl/index.html
Mexico and parts of Brazil reopen after lockdown -- despite surging coronavirus cases https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/02/americas/latin-america-coronavirus-reopening-intl/index.html
Those who spoke to CNN about the poor supplies work for the Institute for Social Security and Services for State Workers, or ISSSTE, and the Regulatory Center for Medical Emergencies, known as CRUM. The two agencies, both under Mexico's Healthy Ministry, operate about 130 ambulances in the capital.
"[CRUM] guarantees the provision of personal protective supplies, fundamental to carry out their work, recognized as highly specialized and that provide service with the highest standards of care and patient protection," a CRUM spokesperson said in a statement provided to CNN.
In a one-line WhatsApp message to CNN, ISSSTE said "[our ambulances] have the required supplies."
Both statements appear to be demonstrably untrue, based on interviews with the staff.
Repeated requests to both agencies for both the official number of ambulance healthcare workers that have contracted the virus and those that have passed away went unanswered.
'I think about my family'
The epidemic in Mexico has shown no signs of slowing down. "We are experiencing one of the most complex and most dangerous moments of the epidemic," Cristian Morales, the World Health Organization's Representative in Mexico, said in a press briefing Tuesday.
That means the demand for emergency medical services is still extremely high.
Mexico travel and coronavirus: Everything you need to know https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/mexico-reopening-coronavirus/index.html
"I think about my family," said another paramedic, who asked to remain anonymous. "I think about Dr. Pérez's family. What if that happened to mine?"
When CNN spoke a few weeks ago to Dr. Pérez's wife, Nancy, she worried her husband wouldn't be the last ambulance worker to die.
"There are many of his colleagues, many people that are still at risk and don't have the necessary supplies to work properly and to be safe," she said.
Her words were prescient.
Last weekend, 53-year-old Sergio Arturo Mendoza Romero, a paramedic of 33 years and a former colleague of Dr. Pérez, passed away from the coronavirus after being intubated and fighting for his life for weeks in the hospital.
His colleagues believe he contracted the virus on the job.
Meantime, the Pérez family is battling to get help from the government as the doctor was the sole breadwinner.
"I just think it's unfair. My husband and his colleagues are just doing their jobs. They do it out of necessity and because they love what they do," Nancy said. "They're helping their country."
But in the face of an unprecedented pandemic, it appears their country isn't helping them.
