Living with Covid-19 in the Philippines – My Philippine Life

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e very early spring of 2020 we were all set to make long-anticipated trip to Italy. We had bought our tickets on Oman Airlines, to fly from Manila to Milan. My sons were going to rendezvous with us on the Amalfi Coast. I was getting older and was not sure how many more years I would be up for the grueling economy class flights. Then, reports of a new respiratory virus epidemic started coming out. Bit by bit it became clear that the April 2020 trip was doomed. Of course, Milan was an early epicenter of the pandemic. Instead of travelling, we had to unwind the trip, cancelling reservations and seeking refunds.

The pandemic persists in the Philippines, more so than in most of its Southeast Asian neighbors, however the fatalities per 100,000 are considerably less than in the USA or Europe. We have not considered returning to the U.S.A. Instead we have taken advantage of having a house surrounded by a wall. We just stay home. When we have to go out we are very careful and wear high quality masks, eye protection and have a bottle if alcohol with us to sanitize ours hands. We avoid crowded places. We do as much as we can online. Delivery services have sprung up and we use them in place of in-person shopping. Of course, the best information and advice is available on Philippine Department of Health website. We are not health experts. We only describe the personal measures we take to protect ourselves. We urge you to follow the recommendations of the Department of Health and your own doctor.

VACCINES.

The first legally-approved vaccines arrived in the Philippines quite late on February 28th. The vaccine was the Chinese-made CoronaVac. 600,000 doses were donated to the Philippines by the Chinese government. Vaccinations are underway with priority given to heath care workers, the elderly and the military. You may form your own opinion about this vaccine at Since, as we write, it is not approved by the Philippine FDA for use in persons over 59 years of age, so even if we were prepared to accept it, it’s not available to me.

In any case, my first preference is the Pfizer-BioNTech. It’s effectiveness in Israel and the UK is so impressive. See

Based on our research and preferences, we would also welcome the opportunity to receive the Moderna, AstraZeneca or Johnson and Johnson and possibly Sputnik 5 vaccine.

We might accept any vaccine offered if we were in a higher risk situation, such as having to work, with lots of in-person contact. But, given our low exposure and careful adherence to avoiding crowded indoor spaces, our wear of quality masks and hand sanitation, we feel that we can afford to wait until a preferred vaccine becomes available.

MASKS

We have purchased thousands of masks. Some we used ourselves, most were donated to front liners. These included surgical masks, genuine 3M N95 masks, KN95 masks from China, KF94 masks from Korea and others.

There are two key factors to consider when selecting masks. The first is the effectiveness of the filter material. The second is the fit of the mask to the face. A mask with excellent filtration material which is not tightly sealed to the face of the wearer, can allow aerosolized viruses to escape filtration. This is often the case with good quality medical masks — generally blue. They can be made of excellent melt-blown filter material, but fit so poorly on the sides, top and bottom that their effectiveness in protecting the wearer may be less than 50%, even is the filter material is capable of filtering out 95% of particles.

Genuine N95 masks offer the best protection. The filter material itself is at least 95% effective. The masks are designed to form a tight seal with the face. They are pulled tight against the face with strong elastic straps which fit over the entire head. These masks are expensive, quite uncomfortable to wear and overkill for those who are not in close contact with infected persons.

Then there are the KN95 masks. KN95 is a Chinese standard intended to provide similar protection as the U.S. N95 standard. These are significant differences in quality in these masks so beware. KN95 masks are usually secured by elastic earloops. Hence they don’t seal as tightly as N95 masks. This can be somewhat remedied by using so called “ear protectors” which are a plastic strap which goes on the neck and connects and tightens the two earloops. The U.S. FDA publishes a list of Chinese masks which have been tested and found to be effective. If you are going to buy KN95 masks, it’s best to choose one from this list.

The mask type we have settled on for own use is the Korean KF94 a “boat” shaped mask which is designed to limit air leaks around the perimeter of the mask. Also, unlike in China, the Korean government is serious about policing mask quality. You might be interested in looking at the YouTube mask testing videos of Aaron Collins. He has tested and evaluated hundreds of masks for both filtration efficiency and for fit.

We currently use the following masks; the LG Airwasher and the the Bon Blue Mask KF94-3D. Both can be found on Lazada or Shopee. We also use a Korean mask which is not KF 94 rated, but fits very well and is highly breathable for our daily walks where our exposure to others is very limited. This is the Korean IlWoul Hygenic Face Mask, also available from Lazada and or Shopee.

We discard masks which are dirty or damaged. For masks in good shape after use we have a pegboard with eight pegs. After we use a mask it is hung from peg eight. Each day the mask moves one peg towards peg one. After the masks have spent eight days hanging from the pegboard we reuse them on the assumption that any coronaviruses they may have accumulated will be inactivated in the sunny location of the pegboard. We can’t provide any scientific backing for this approach. There have been studies of how long the viruses can say viable on various surfaces, but these are significantly influenced by temperature, humidity and exposure to sunlight. If we were medical workers we would discard our masks, but since we only wear these masks to the superstore, the viral load that the masks carry is assumed to be small. We are not advocating our approach, we are just describing what we do.

MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES

I have a list of treatments I’d like to have my doctors consider using should I test positive for COVID-19. At the very top of my list is immediate treatment with monoclonal antibody products such as bamlanivimab or Regeneron. The FDA allows Regeneron to be used to treat people with mild or moderate COVID-19 who are not currently hospitalized, but are at high risk of developing severe symptoms and requiring hospitalization. That sounds like me. It’s one of the treatments that former President Trump received at Walter Reed. Clinical trials have shown that these drugs can head off severe infections if used in the very first days of infection. As far as I know, these drugs are not available in the Philippines. See and and

TRAVEL

The regulations are complex and change from day to day, As of today, foreign tourists are not allowed into the Philippines. Balikbayans, OFWs and certain other categories are allowed but generally require a seven day quarantine in a hotel approved for that purpose at the traveler’s expense. You will receive a PCR test during your stay and will be allowed to have the quarantine hotel if you test negative. Even then there are a multiple travel restrictions and required procedures for travel within the Philippines.

I have found the “Vlogger Grandpa” YouTube videos to be very helpful in keeping up with Philippine travel and Visa issues.

TREATMENTS

Under construction…..

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