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MARCH 26-APRIL 1, 2020

T H E F I L I P I N O –A M E R I C A N C O M M U N I T Y N E W S PA P E R

Volume 31 - No. 13 • 12 Pages

2770 S. Maryland Pkwy., Suite 201 Las Vegas, NV 89109 Tel: (702) 792-6678 • Fax: (702) 792-6879

Also published in LOS ANGELES, ORANGE COUNTY/INLAND EMPIRE, NORTHERN CALIFORNIA, NEW YORK/NEW JERSEY

249 coronavirus cases, 6 deaths in Clark County Gov. Sisolak restricts malaria drugs for treatment, gatherings of more than 10

by AJPRESS CLARK County now has 249 coronavirus cases as of Tuesday, March 24, a week after Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak announced a statewide shutdown of nonessential businesses in an effort to slow the spread of the virus.

Of the cases reported, 43% are between the ages of 25-49, while

DATELINE

27% are 50-64 years old. Fifteen (6%) individuals are of Asian descent, according to the Southern Nevada Health District.

Two more fatalities from COVID-19 were also reported in the county, bringing the total to six deaths.

One death was a man in his 70s with underlying medical conditions, while the other was a woman in her 50s also with un-

USA

by RITCHEL

MENDIOLA AJPress

Fil-Am lawyer remains in critical condition, given ‘experimental’ drug therapy

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‘He died alone’: Filipino father among New Jersey’s coronavirus victims A FILIPINO father from Edison, New Jersey died on March 19 from the coronavirus, his son confirmed over the weekend.

Peter Dario died from COVID-19 two days prior and was “alone because the hospital restricted all visitors in order to contain the outbreak,” his son Peter John Dario posted on Twitter on March 21.

The younger Dario continued, “My deepest regret was not saying bye to him when I brought him to the hospital. I thought it was going to be a ‘Take care, see you back home.’”

As of this writing, Dario’s Twitter thread has garnered over 11,000 replies, from individuals around the world expressing their condolences and sharing their own experiences of family members dying from the virus.

He advised others to “cherish every moment with your loved ones” and “to help the people

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MAKESHIFT QUARANTINE. As major Metro Manila hospitals struggle to accommodate patients amid increasing coronavirus cases, the Quezon City government hopes to ease their workload by setting up isolation tents in a covered basketball court at Quezon Memorial Circle for people being observed for signs of infection.

Inquirer.net photo by Grig Montegrande

Duterte signs law granting himself special powers vs virus

FROM THE AJPRESS NEWS TEAM ACROSS AMERICA

NEW YORK continues to grapple with skyrocketing coronavirus cases and because of the spiking numbers, the state launched earlier this week a clinical trial for an experimental drug treatment to heal those who are critically ill.

One of those patients in critical condition is Filipino American lawyer David Lat who has been intubated on a ventilator and sedated inside the NYU Langone hospital, according to his mother Zenda Garcia Lat. In an update to family and friends through social media, Dr. Lat said that her son’s doctors have put him “on Hydroxychloroquine and Azithromycin and an experimental drug to ease the inflammation in his lungs which are heavily damaged.”

“It will take a while before we really see much progress but at least, he is stable. Hopefully, he will put up a good fight,” she said.

“It has indeed been a very difficult and trying time for us, especially because we cannot see him at all and it takes a lot before we get

derlying conditions, the health district said.

The number of cases is now at 306 statewide, as Nevada continues to request testing kits from the federal government.

As President Donald Trump praised drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine — which have been used to treat malaria, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis —

President Rodrigo Duterte

PHILIPPINE President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday, March 25, signed a bill that grants him special powers to address the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) threat in the country.

Under the Bayanihan to Heal As One Act (Senate Bill 1418), the president is authorized to adopt several “temporary emergency measures” to contain COVID-19 as well as to mobilize at least P200 billion to help over Malacañang photo by Ace Morandante 18 million low-income families.

Duterte is also granted the power to provide compensation of P100,000 to public and private health workers who may contract COVID-19 while families of health workers who died of COVID-19 while fighting the outbreak will be given P1 million.

The law further ensures a COVID-19 special risk allowance to public health workers in addition to their hazard pay granted under Republic Act 7305.

The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation will shoulder all medical costs of health workers in case of COVID-19 expo-

sure or any work-related injury.

The president would be allowed to temporarily direct the operations of “privately-owned hospitals, medical and health facilities including passenger vessels and other establishments.” However, the management of these businesses and establishments will be retained by the owners.

Additionally, he is granted the powers to expedite and streamline accreditation of testing kits and facilitate prompt testing; ensure that all Local Government Units (LGUs) are acting in

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PAL cancels international COVID-19 cases in PH jump to 636 flights from March 26 to April 14

by RITCHEL

MENDIOLA AJPress

by RITCHEL

MENDIOLA AJPress

FLAG-carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) on Tuesday, March 24, announced that it is temporarily suspending international flights from March 26 to April 14 as more people around the world become infected with the coronavirus (COVID-19).

The airline said in a statement

that it “could no longer sustain even a limited number of international flights” as more countries implement strict travel and entry restrictions due to the pandemic.

Following the ‘enhanced community quarantine’ in Luzon, PAL joined the country’s major airlines in ceasing operations of domestic flights on March 17 until at least April 12.

THE Philippines has 84 additional cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), bringing the total count to 636, the Department of Health reported on Wednesday, March 25.

The department also recorded three additional deaths, bringing the official death toll to 38.

The fatalities include a 56year-old male Filipino resident

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DIY FACE MASK. A vendor sells do-it-yourself (DIY) face masks along Anonas Street in Quezon City on Wednesday, March 25. PNA photo by Joey O. Razon

Money, fear and racism: Navigating the complex relationship between health and hysteria As the world continues to fight the new coronavirus, the global Asian and Pacific Islander community pushes back on hate, discrimination

by KLARIZE

MEDENILLA AJPress

THERE are fewer global phenomena that make a bigger impact than a viral pandemic.

As told by history, the emergence of a new, deadly pathogen — especially one for which there is no known cure or robust preventative measure — stops the world, disrupting everyday life for all humans in a way that permanently impacts the zeitgeist.

COVID-19, which stands for coronaA woman declares “No Hate” at a protest in Los Angeles, California in 2017.

File photo by T. Chick McClure/Unsplash virus disease 2019, is a specific disease

caused by a virus named SARS-CoV-2 and stems from a family of viruses called the coronaviruses (named so due to the crownlike spikes that cover the virus’ surface).

Coronaviruses can also trigger a wide range of known ailments from the common cold to more severe diseases like severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).

As most people are acutely aware, COVID19 is the latest disease to rock the world, transforming and, hopefully, advancing the ways in which we deal with global health crises in a time where humans are more con-

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march 26-april 1, 2020 • laS VEGaS aSiaN JOUrNal

From The FronT Page

Money, fear and racism: Navigating the...

PAGE 1 nected than ever.

In the same way that the virus itself has rapidly disseminated across cities, counties, states and countries, so have broad isolation measures to stop the spread of disease. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have both urged governments

to enact such measures.

Last week, California became the first state to implement a statewide stay-at-home order for its nearly 40 million residents, and shortly after more than a dozen states followed suit.

The COVID-19 outbreak is multi-faceted and affects all areas of modern life. School districts have shut down and there are currently efforts to compen-

sate workers of all industries and provide ample sick pay as more governments adopt stayat-home measures.

As of press time, much of the world has adjusted to this restrictive stasis. The WHO has praised both China and South Korea for “flattening the curve” but in other countries, like the U.S., the virus’ impact continues to inflate and seep into all areas of American society.

Averting another recession As it is with most things in the United States, all roads lead to the economy, and how to mitigate capital damage during this outbreak and amid stay-athome orders. President Donald Trump, who prior to announcing a national emergency on March 13 downplayed the virus’ impact on the United States, and his administration have prioritized the prevention of a major economic fallout.

On Tuesday, March 24, the Trump administration (led

by Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin) and Congress negotiated a $2 trillion stimulus package, the largest emergency stimulus package in American economic history.

In short, the Senate bill would direct one-time payments of $1,200 to most American adults; establish a $500 billion lending program for companies, states, and cities; extend $367 billion for small businesses to deal with payroll issues; strengthen the unemployment insurance system and funnel $150 billion toward hospitals.

After weeks of plummeting and experiencing its biggest one day decline since the 1980s, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has risen 2,113 points in one day in anticipation of the Congress bill, providing optimism for airlines and the cruise lines, two industries which have taken a toll since the outbreak began.

Indeed, the economic impact has dominated much of coronavirus-related news and developments coming from Washington. And as previously reported in the Asian Journal, Trump has argued against the expansion of testing for COVID-19 and placed focus on economic damage control. (Trump said that he wants the “country opened” by Easter.)

But despite the efforts to PAGE A3

TIME FOR NATIONALISM. Thousands of food packs ready for distribution at Barangay Bagong Nayon multipurpose covered court in Cogeo, Antipolo City are assembled depicting the Philippine flag at this crucial time to show nationalism, on Monday, March 23. The food packs will be distributed to residents in the area who were affected by the enhanced community quarantine being implemented by the government to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

PNA photos by Joey Razon

249 coronavirus cases, 6 deaths...

PAGE 1 as possible remedies for COVID19, Sisolak on Tuesday signed an emergency order saying that the drugs can only be prescribed by a doctor in an inpatient setting.

Further, the prescribed medications in an outpatient setting can only be given in a 30-day supply to prevent stockpiling.

“While these drugs serve necessary medical purposes, this regulation protects the Nevadans who need them and prevents unnecessary hoarding,” he said on Twitter, adding that the “best way to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is to stay home for Nevada.”

“There are no FDA-approved therapeutics or drugs to treat, cure or prevent COVID-19,” the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said following Trump’s claims that the two drugs have been approved for treatment.

The governor also issued a directive prohibiting gatherings of 10 or more people. It applies to indoor and outdoor public areas, such as libraries, playgrounds and basketball courts, but does not cover people gathering at home.

“Nevadans who wish to enjoy our great outdoors can still do so, but we must do so safely to prevent the spread of this disease.

You may enjoy a daily walk in the park with others in your household, but please, maintain a safe distance from those that are also enjoying the public spaces and do not touch any of the equipment where the virus may be lurking,” Sisolak said.

Disaster resource guide With Sisolak’s order to close nonessential businesses, including casinos and bars, nearly 60,000 casino workers who are part of the Culinary Union 226 have been laid off.

The union, which has requested several Las Vegas casinos to provide paid leave and benefits, reminded members that their jobs and their health care benefits for them and their families, are still protected.

Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) on Tuesday released a disaster resource guide, for Nevada residents impacted by the pandemic.

The guide covers a breadth of services, such as unemployment insurance, mental health counseling, and relief loans for small business owners.

“As I continue to work with Governor Sisolak and the whole Nevada congressional delegation to address the needs of Nevadans, I want impacted families to have the information they need to access critical local, state, and federal resources,” the senator wrote in a Medium post. n

PAL cancels international flights from...

PAGE 1 It also attributed the decreased demand for travel for its suspensions, as well as the “continuing challenges” with regard to the staffing of its Manila airport hub amid the lockdown.

“Accordingly, our last flight to depart from Manila this week will be PR 104 bound for San Francisco at 10:10 PM on March 25. Several flights will continue to arrive in Manila on March 26 from Los Angeles, Tokyo Narita,

and Jakarta, and on March 27 from New York JFK, San Francisco, and Los Angeles,” the airline said.

“Our firm goal is to resume operations starting 15 April 2020, if warranted by Philippine and international authorities, global public health conditions and the travel environment,” it added.

PAL said it will now focus on conserving its resources for its workers and be on standby for select flights to “retrieve strand-

ed passengers.”

“We shall continue to make aircraft and service personnel available for special flights to retrieve stranded passengers as well as cargo flights to keep intact critical supply chains across our islands,” PAL added.

COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization as it has already infected more than 386,960 people worldwide and killed more than 16,750. n

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LAS VEGAS ASIAN JOURNAL • mARch 26-ApRIL 1, 2020

Fil-Am lawyer remains in critical condition, gien...

DECONTAMINATION. A Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) member decontaminates a Philippine National Police (PNP) officer after his duty at a checkpoint on the Marikina-Cainta, Rizal border, Marcos Highway on Tuesday, March 24. The Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine enters its second week of implementation to curb the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

PNA photo by Joey O. Razon

Money, fear and racism: Navigating the...

PAGE 1

save the economy and protect the private sector from financial ruin, the number of people testing positive for the virus is skyrocketing. According to a New York Times interactive, at least 52,215 people across the U.S. have tested positive for the virus as of Tuesday. Moreover, 675 U.S. patients have so far died from coronavirus-related causes.

What began as a regional scare in Wuhan, China last year has accelerated to become a global panic that has preyed on the fears of the public. The natural reaction to the media reports of death tolls and lockdown announcements has triggered panic behavior that reflects the tendency for some people to cling on to misinformation and hysteria.

Public health scares and minorities in America: an ugly history Like any government agency, a public health care system is meant to provide care to all patients who enter its facilities, a service which, ideally, is void of any discriminatory standards.

But in the United States, a country with a tainted history of xenophobic and racist policies and practices, that unsurprisingly wasn’t always the case.

A 2004 study from the American Journal of Public Health that explored Depression-era

standards and practices towards Mexicans and Filipinos in Los Angeles detailed the extensive effort to rid sick Filipinos from hospitals and, eventually, deport them.

After thousands of Mexicans left the state and reduced hospitals’ occupancy, leaving clinics and hospitals reduced, the California State Board of Health worried that the hospitals would now be taken over by sick Filipinos, calling them “one of our worst problems at the present time.”

In 1933, the Director of the State Bureau of Tuberculosis Edythe T. Thompson wrote with hostility in her inspection reports of the state’s public hospitals about Filipinos and supported the campaign for Filipino repatriation, the government’s attempt to strip Filipinos in the U.S. of their American nationality and send them back to the Philippines. (The Philippines was still a U.S. territory which meant that Filipinos who came to the U.S. for work were considered “U.S. nationals.”)

After a visit to Kern General Hospital in Bakersfield, Thompson wrote, “Here, as in many of the other general hospitals, the beds on the tuberculosis service were nearly all filled with Filipinos. These people seem to have more complications than other races.”

Thompson went on to write

that Filipino hospital patients “require very much more nursing than a white patient, and since they are so often disturbed mentally, coupled with certain groups of them carrying many superstitions, it makes life very miserable for white patients around them.”

According to a monthly report quoted in the 2004 study, Thompson wrote in 1934 that “Filipinos, like Mexicans, deserved only the cheapest and least attractive types of care,” punctuating a suggestion from the California State Board of Health to Congress that Filipinos in California should be returned to the Philippines “on army transports.”

These attitudes towards Filipinos are exemplary of the ways in which a culturally-stunted society can and have disenfranchised minorities by way of a medical crisis: using health scares as an excuse to implement nativist policy changes.

“We have a long history of using science and medicine to justify racism,” Gilbert Gee, professor in community health sciences at UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health, told the Asian Journal in a recent phone interview.

Though the tuberculosis scare wasn’t a pandemic, it is exemplary of the ways in which both government officials and PAGE 5

PAGE 1 through to anyone in the ICU to get updates.”

The federal government cleared the way for New York to experiment with the malaria and lupus drug hydroxychloroquine and the antibiotic Zithromax (generic name azithromycin) as a treatment for COVID-19, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said over the weekend.

David’s husband Zachary Shemtob is recovering and their 2year-old son, Harlan is with Lat’s parents, Emmanuel and Zenaida, who are both doctors. They are not allowed to visit Lat at the hospital because of the very contagious virus.

According to Shemtob, the doctors at NYU Langone are also treating him with an IL 6-inhibitor to fight the inflammation of Lat’s lungs.

Lat, author and the founder of the legal blog Above the Law has been hospitalized since March 16 due to a COVID-19 infection. The 44-year-old lawyer experienced intermittent fevers, joint aches, chills, fatigue and coughing for more than a week. He went to the emergency room on March 15 because by this time, he was already having difficulty breathing.

In an interview with the New York Law Journal, Shemtob said he was told about his husband waking up Saturday, despite being under sedation, by an attending nurse at the hospital. The nursing staff then asked Lat to go back and get more rest.

Last week, Lat documented his experience with the virus in a series of tweets on Twitter, giving it the hashtag of LivingWithCovid.

Fil-Am lawyer David Lat shares a photo of him on March 20 using a ventilator after being admitted to the hospital for COVID-19.

Photo courtesy of David Lat/Facebook

His latest tweet was on March 18, a comparative graph showing various countries and how many coronavirus tests were done per one million people.

Dr. Lat called on for more prayers for her son, as she thanked acquaintances, friends and family who have been sending them prayers and good wishes.

“Thank you so much for your outpouring of prayers for David, your kind thoughts and well wishes. It brings us a lot of comfort and we truly appreciate it,”

Dr. Lat said, adding that they are also mourning the loss of four of their physician colleagues back in the Philippines.

Shemtob also expressed his thanks to everyone, including “people we don’t even know who have been touched in some way by this.”

“We appreciate everyone’s love and thoughts and prayers,” he said. “I just want to stress again, for folks to stay safe and to stop congregating together, to please take this stuff seriously.” (Momar G. Visaya/AJPress)

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Social Security offices to provide phone service Duterte signs law granting himself...

PAGE 1 line with the rules issued by the national government; continue to enforce measures to protect the people from hoarding, profiteering, injurious speculations, manipulation of prices, product deceptions, and cartels; and prioritize the allocation and distribution of medical supplies to coronavirus-referral hospitals, public and private laboratories, and health facilities that have capacities to test and care for suspected COVID-19 patients.

Duterte’s authorized powers “shall be valid for three months, unless amended by Congress.”

According to Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo, the president would use the special powers under the 1987 Constitution.

“The Filipino people are assured that the powers granted the president shall be enforced strictly in accordance with the Constitution. The grant of powers is for a limited period and subject to the restrictions contained therein,” Panelo assured Tuesday, March 24.

The Bayanihan to Heal As One Act, authored by Senate President Tito Sotto III and Senator Pia Cayetano, was approved by the Senate on Tuesday.

It received affirmative votes from Sotto, Cayetano, Majority Leader Sherwin Gatchalian, and Senators Christopher “Bong” Go, Francis Tolentino, Panfilo Lacson, Lito Lapid, Manny Pacquiao, Grace Poe, Ralph Recto, Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., and Richard Gordon who were physically present in the plenary.

Meanwhile, Sens. Ronald dela Rosa, Juan Miguel Zubiri, Sonny Angara, Joel Villanueva, Cynthia Villar, Nancy Binay, and Francis Pangilinan voted in the affirmative via phone patch.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros was the only senator who voted negative.

“There is an urgent need to implement measures that will help address the health scare brought about by the spread of COVID-19 in our land,” Panelo added.

Duterte thanks Congress

Duterte on Tuesday expressed his gratitude to Congress for granting him special powers that are necessary for dealing with the current health situation in the country.

“I especially thank Congress for granting the executive department with special powers through the ‘Bayanihan to Heal as One’ Act to effectively respond to the challenges caused by the Covid-19 global pandemic,” he said.

“I express my sincerest gratitude to all of you for granting our most urgent requests. Finally, the executive department can move, decide, and act freely for the best interest of the Filipino people during this health crisis,” he added.

Duterte also acknowledged the country’s frontliners for risking their lives to treat infected patients and lamented the deaths of workers who died after contracting the disease.

“I rarely salute people but when it comes to our doctors, health workers who died, I salute you,” he said in Filipino. n

PAGE 1 of Quezon City with no travel we are able to keep our ships history who succumbed to comdeployed at seas and underway, munity-acquired pneumonia; a even with active COVID-19 cas- 57-year-old male from Caloocan City who died of acute respiraes,” he added.

The three sailors have been tory distress syndrome secondflown off the aircraft carrier to ary to pneumonia and COVIDa U.S. Defense Department hos- 19; and an 82-year-old female pital in the Pacific, USNI News Filipino from Marikina City who had a travel history to the United reported. u PAGE 7 States.

The DOH reported six recoveries, raising the national tally of recovered patients to 26.

Mass testing still not an option Mass testing cannot be implemented as the country lacks enough test kits and is still expanding the capacity of its laboratories, according to Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire.

“While we already have 100,000 testing kits, we expect more to arrive, these are not enough to conduct mass testing,” she said.

“For now, mass testing is not in our consideration because we lack capacity. Even if we have testing kits but we do not have laboratories, we cannot do it. So we are completing the establishment of extension laboratories nationwide,” she added.

Vergeire noted that mass testing may be possible once the government has sufficient resources.

“Once we stabilize all our laboratories, we can decide if we can do mass testing or not,” she said.

The second week of Luzon’s enhanced community quarantine opened with President Rodrigo Duterte asking the Congress “for a limited period and subject to restrictions” powers that are necessary for dealing with the current health situation in the country.

Last week, he signed Proclamation 929, which declares a state of calamity for a period of six months unless lifted earlier extended “as circumstances may warrant.”

The declaration enjoins all government agencies and local government units (LGUs) to render full assistance in combating the spread of the disease.

“All government agencies and LGUs are enjoined to render full assistance to and cooperation with each other and mobilize the necessary resources to undertake critical, urgent, and appropriate disaster response aid and measures in a timely manner to curtail and eliminate the threat of COVID-19,” stated Duterte’s

proclamation.

His declaration also directs law enforcement agencies, with the support from the Armed Forces of the Philippines, “to undertake all necessary measures to ensure peace and order.”

The president also placed Luzon on an enhanced community quarantine to contain the spread of the virus in the country.

“I have come to the conclusion that stricter measures are necessary. For this reason, pursuant to my powers as President under the constitution and RA 11332, I am placing the entire mainland of Luzon under enhanced community quarantine until April 12, 2020,” he said in a nationally televised address on March 16.

An enhanced community quarantine suspends mass public transport, and land, air, and sea travel. It also implements a strict home quarantine for every household, regulates provisions for food and essential health services, and heightens the presence of uniformed personnel to enforce quarantine procedures.

Duterte urged the public once again to stay inside their homes.

“Everyone will stay at home, leaving their houses only to buy food, medicine, and other things necessary for survival,” he said.

Private establishments providing basic necessities, such as those related to food and medicine production, are allowed to operate with a skeleton force.

Among those businesses include public markets, supermarkets, groceries, convenience stores, hospitals, medical clinics, pharmacies and drugstores, food preparation and delivery services, water-refilling stations, and banks.

Malls, meanwhile, have already announced their temporary closure until further notice.

Different cities in Metro Manila have also implemented a curfew from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. during the quarantine period — among them are Caloocan, Las Piñas, Makati, Mandaluyong, Manila, Muntinlupa, Pasay, Pasig, Quezon City, San Juan, and Taguig. n

Online services remain available

ALL local social security offices were closed to the public for in-person service as of last Tuesday, March 17.

This decision protects the population it serves—older Americans and people with underlying medical conditions—and its employees during the coronavirus (COVID- 19) pandemic. However, it is still able to provide critical services.

The secure and convenient online services remain available at www.socialsecurity.gov. Local offices will also continue to provide critical services over the phone. The agency is working closely with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), state and local governments, and other experts to monitor COVID-19 and will let you know as soon as it can resume in-person service.

If you need help from social security: • First, please use secure and convenient online services

available at www.socialsecurity. gov/onlineservices. You can apply for retirement, disability, and Medicare benefits online, check the status of an application or appeal, request a replacement Social Security card (in most areas), print a benefit verification letter, and much more – from anywhere and from any of your devices. It also has a wealth of information to answer most of your social security questions online, without having to speak with a social security representative in person or by phone. Please visit online Frequently Asked Questions at www.socialsecurity.gov/ask.

• If you cannot conduct your social security business online, please check its online field office locator for specific information about how to directly contact your local office. Your local office will still be able to provide critical services to help you apply for benefits, answer your questions, and provide other services over the phone.

• If you already have an inoffice appointment scheduled, social security will call you to handle your appointment over the phone instead. If you have a hearing scheduled, social security will call you to discuss alternatives for continuing with your hearing, including offering a telephonic hearing. Social security call may come from a private number and not from a U.S. Government phone. Please remember that social security employees will not threaten you or ask for any form of payment.

• If you cannot complete your business online, please call social security’s national 800 number at 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778). The national 800 number has many automated service options you can use without waiting to speak with a telephone representative. A list of automated telephone services is available online at www.socialsecurity.gov/agency/contact/ phone.html. n

3 US sailors aboard warship in COVID-19 cases in PH jump to...

Philippine Sea test positive for COVID-19 THREE U.S. Navy sailors aboard an aircraft carrier sailing in the Philippine Sea tested positive for the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the U.S. Department of Defense or Pentagon confirmed.

Acting U.S. Navy Secretary Thomas Modly said the three sailors have been evacuated from

aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt after being diagnosed with the disease.

“We’ve identified all the folks they’ve had contact with, and we’re quarantining them as well,” Modly said at a Pentagon press conference on Tuesday, March 24.

“This is an example of how

‘He died alone’: Filipino father...

PAGE 1 in the frontlines of all this.”

“There’s no room for hate or blame. I refused to let my dad become another number on the death toll,” Dario wrote in another tweet. “I told his story and you all should too.”

New Jersey has at least 2,844 known coronavirus cases with

27 deaths, officials announced Monday, March 23. Of the seven new deaths reported, they were five men and two women ranging in age from 57 to 91.

Governor Phil Murphy ordered all state residents to stay home and all nonessential retail businesses to close on Saturday.

(AJPress)

Peter John Dario (left) shared a photo with his late father Peter Dario (right) after the latter died from the coronavirus on March 19.

Photo courtesy of Peter John Dario/Twitter

LAS VEGAS ASIAN JOURNAL • mARch 26-ApRIL 1, 2020

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D ateline PhiliPPines Pimentel violated hospital protocols

vs infection — Makati Medical Center

by Ratziel

San Juan Philstar.com

MANILA — The Makati Medical Center on Wednesday, March 25 said that Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, who announced earlier in the day that he tested positive for the new coronavirus disease, breached its strict infection and containment protocols on Tuesday, March 24. “[Pimentel], whose result for COVID-19 testing turned out to be positive, brought his wife to the hospital for delivery via cesarean section. By being in MMC, [the senator] violated his Home Quarantine Protocol, entered the premises of the [Medical Center Delivery Room Complex], thus, unduly exposed healthcare workers to possible infection,” Medical Director and Interim Co-CEO doctor Saturnino Javier said in a statement.

In the same statement, the medical center called out the “irresponsible and reckless action of the senator,” saying he should have set an example for his con-

Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III

stituents.

“He (Pimentel) added to the burden of a hospital trying to respond in its most competent and aggressive manner to cope with the daunting challenges of this COVID-19 outbreak. More than anyone else, Mr. Pimentel, should have realized the ardent desire of every well-meaning Filipino and every dedicated healthcare institution to contain the spread of the infection,” it said.

“His admonition for everyone to observe social distancing, enhanced community quarantine measures, washing of hands and personal hygiene are nothing but empty rhetoric because he himself violated all those.

By his actions, he contributed no solution. In fact, he created another problem - for Makati Medical Center, the very institution which embraced his wife for obstetric care.”

The hospital, however, assured stakeholders that it has since decontaminated the involved facility and evaluated the affected healthcare workers.

Employees who were identified and evaluated will be quarantined “if the risk of exposure warrants it.”

“We fervently pray that none of our healthcare staff will acquire the viral infection. As we make this wish, we plead and urge everyone to do his share in quelling the spread of this infection - especially our nation’s duly elected leaders.”

Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act Asked whether Pimentel could be held liable for the breach in quarantine protocols, Justice Undersecretary Markk Perete said that “those who have personal knowledge of the incident should file the complaint.”

He added: “A warrantless arrest is allowed following the en flagrante delicto principle, in cases of hot pursuit, among others. Thus far, reports have not alleged circumstances establishing the requirements for any of these grounds.”

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra had previously said that violators of the guidelines of the Enhanced Community Quarantine in Luzon could be arrested.

He also said police and other law enforcement agents may enforce arrest against violators of quarantines, “considering the gravity of the present situation,” under Republic Act 11332.

Republic Act 11332 is the “Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act.” It provides that the Secretary of Health may declare epidemics of national and/or international concerns, and the President “shall declare a State of Public Health Emergency and mobilize governmental and nongovernmental agencies to respond to the threat.”

It also penalizes “non-cooperation of the person or entities identified as having the notifiable disease, or affected by the health event of public Philstar.com photo concern.” n

PNP creates task force on fake news

by DaRwin

peSco ManilaTimes.net

THE Philippine National Police (PNP) has created a task force against fake news circulating online related to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), PNP spokesman Brig. Gen. Bernard Banac said on Wednesday, March 25.

According to Brig. Gen. Banac, the aim of the PNP Task Force “Kontra Peke” was not only to catch people spreading fake news online, but as well as hoarders and businesses that

sell overpriced goods in light of the COVID-19 pandemic that has forced millions of Filipinos to stay at home.

“Pagbuo ng task force para labanan ang pagkalat ng ng mga fake news na ito (We formed a task force to fight the spreading of fake news),” Banac said in a press briefing.

“Hahanapin po natin ‘yung mga peke [na balita], itong naglalabas nito pati operation sa isinasagawa against hoarding and overpricing (We will find peddlers of fake news and conduct operations against hoard-

ing and overpricing),” Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, deputy chief for operations of the PNP said in a televised briefing.

The task force was formed in coordination with the Department of Information and Communications Technology, he said.

PNP chief Gen. Archie Gamboa last week said he tasked the police force’s anti-cybercrime group to trace those spreading wrong information online after fake reports of massive looting in Manila went viral at the start of the month-long Luzon lockdown. n

Money, fear and racism: Navigating the...

PAGE 5 scientists of yore have justified discriminatory practices.

In his academic research, Gee has written extensively on the murky relationship between medical science and racial discrimination in which prominent doctors have argued that “different racial groups carry certain kinds of diseases and that these things are higher among certain groups because they’re essentially biologically, mentally, and socially inferior.”

Gee provided the example of the prominent antebellum-era physician Samuel Cartwright who argued that certain racial groups are “innately different in their fundamental physiology,” an argument that has since been debunked by the scientific community at large.

Like Thompson’s view that Filipinos with tuberculosis are innately more dangerous than white tuberculosis patients, Cartwright used this warped perspective to justify slavery as a biologically necessary institution.

A disease by any other name Nominally, it was standard practice to name diseases after the place from which they originated. In the 1950s, the H2N2 outbreak was colloquially called the “Asian flu” and before that in 1947, the Zika virus was socalled after the Ziika Forest of Uganda from which the denguelike infection began.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, some people, including American lawmakers, have adopted the misnomer “Wuhan virus” or “China virus” to describe the COVID-19 virus.

Though it has historically been standard practice to name viruses as such, it poses a problem

on how the public associates the infection and, specifically, who has the infection.

As previously reported by the Asian Journal, the number of hate directed toward the Asian and Pacific Islander community has risen considerably. Viral social media posts detailing verbal and physical harassment against Asians accused of carrying the virus have proliferated timelines, harkening back to the racist and xenophobic attitudes of the past.

Anger and panic are natural responses to a global health crisis, but racism and xenophobia stunt any efforts to eradicate the virus, which health officials have repeatedly noted are not tied to certain races and ethnicities.

So while it is important, if someone is showing symptoms, to immediately address the situation and provide medical attention, “it doesn’t make sense to just kind of blanketly treat people in a discriminatory fashion just because they look a certain way or have a certain name,” Gee said.

Though Gee expressed frustration at the stories of antiAAPI hate, he did acknowledge the need to decouple racism from “our social systems” and provide a better way of surveilling discrimination and hate, especially during a massive health crisis.

In an effort to combat antiAAPI sentiments, a new coalition of AAPI leaders and advocacy groups unveiled the STOP AAPI Hate Reporting Center, which was created “to collect and track incidents” of antiAAPI “hate, violence and discrimination” across California and the U.S. The center was established

by Asian Pacific Islander Leg-

islative Caucus Chair Assemblymember David Chiu (D-San Francisco) and other caucus members, including Filipino American Assemblymember Rob Bonta (D-Oakland), who said in a statement that his goal is “to ensure we are using the data of racially motivated incidents to inform state policy and budgetary investments to curtail racial discrimination and harassment.”

The very existence of a coalition like this is a sign that the culture has changed dramatically since the days of Edythe Thompson and the days in which policymakers supported the campaign to deport sick Filipinos. As the number of cases and deaths continue to skyrocket, there’s no telling when or if the virus will be contained.

“The reality is that we will continue to see more outbreaks like this. There’s always going to be new diseases that emerge on earth,” Gee said, noting the rapid expansion of technology that has made it easier to travel and connect with people on all four corners of the world.

But, if anything, the current moment can be seen as a lesson in the human reaction to worldwide health catastrophes, and the tendency for humans to act out based on fear.

“There are seven and a half or so billion people on earth, with maybe 1.5 billion people from China and another billion or so from India. So if you think about it, roughly two out of five people on this planet are from Asia, so the likelihood of a new disease emerging from Asia is actually kind of high. That being said, we need to really pay attention to decoupling diseases with groups of people,” Gee said. n

ELBOW BUMP. Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. (left) and Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian do the elbow bump during the turnover of a donation from China at the Philippine Airport Ground Support Solution, Inc. (PAGSS) in Parañaque City on Saturday, March 21. The donation includes 100,000 Covid-19 test kits, 10,000 n95 masks, 100,000 surgical masks, and 10,000 pieces of personal protective equipment.

PNA photo by Robert Oswald Alfiler

Metro crime rate down – PNP by emmanuel

tupaS

Philstar.com

MANILA — The number of crimes in Metro Manila went down by 67.6 percent since the government enforced a Luzonwide enhanced community quarantine to contain the coronavirus disease 2019, the Philippine Na-

tional Police (PNP) said over the weekend.

PNP spokesman Brig. Gen. Bernard Banac said 766 crimes were recorded in the National Capital Region from March 15 to March 20. The figure is lower by 67.6 percent compared to 2,367 crime during the same period last year.

Banac attributed the decrease

to the strict enforcement of the localized quarantine where people, except those providing medical and other essential services, are required to stay at home.

Cases of murder, homicide, physical injuries, rape, robbery, theft, carjacking and motorcycle thefts decreased by 65.4 percent from 211 to 73. n

PH backs postponement of Tokyo Olympics amid virus outbreak

by JeRemiah

m. Sevilla ManilaTimes.net

TEAM Philippines’ chef de mission for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Mariano “Nonong” Araneta supported the idea of postponing the Summer Games amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

This after veteran International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound told USA TODAY Sports that the Olympics in July would be suspended.

“I think postponement is the most decent thing to do. It’s so hard for athletes to focus on their preparation at this time because they are also concerned about their safety and the safety of their families,” Araneta told The Ma-

nila Times in a text message.

“At this moment, we should not only think whether postponed will be good or bad for our Filipino athletes who are vying for an Olympic slot. The athletes’ welfare and safety should be our main concern when we are facing this difficult situation right now,” added the Philippine Football Federation president.

Edward Kho, the marketing and communications director of the Philippine Track and Field Association, echoed Araneta’s sentiments.

“I’m for the postponement of the Games. The principles of the Olympics, as enshrined in the Olympic charter, is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of human kind and

the preservation of the human dignity,” Kho told The Manila Times.

“We must ensure first that the big part of the human population is well before we underscore sport,” he added.

Four Filipino athletes have already qualified for the Olympics namely EJ Obiena (pole vault), Carlos Yulo (gymnastics), Eumir Marcial and Irish Magno (boxing).

Other Filipino athletes have been seeking to punch their ticket to the Games, including 2016 Rio Olympics silver medalist Hidilyn Diaz (weightlifting), Margielyn Didal (skateboarding), William Morrison and Kristina Knott (athletics), Kiyomi Watanabe (judo) and Nesthy Petecio (boxing). n

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http://www.asianjournal.com • (702) 792-6678

MARCH 26-APRIL 1, 2020 • LAS VEGAS ASIAN JOURNAL

OPINION

Safe hands on World Water Day

FEATURES

EVEN under normal circumstances, people are aware of the importance in life of the most basic need for survival, water. Residents of Metro Manila and several neighboring areas saw the consequences of an acute water shortage last year.

Now the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has heightened this importance. For World Water Day 2020, observed on March 22, the theme shifted from the original emphasis on the inextricable link between climate change and water security, to the importance of water in fighting the contagion, with people urged to “show our best hand hygiene moments to fight COVID-19.”

With community quarantines imposed in Luzon and other parts of the country, people are strongly reminded to observe proper hygiene, starting with the most basic – regular hand washing. Health professionals have stressed that instead of smothering hands with alcohol or sanitizers, it is better to wash hands regularly with soap and water.

This simple advice is obviously difficult to observe in communities that lack running wa-

Editorial

The Fil-Am Perspective GEL SANTOS-RELOS “THE cure is worse than the problem,” President Donald Trump has been echoing Fox News in his unbelievable call to scale down drastic efforts toward the containment of the coronavirus pandemic and open the U.S. for business by April 12.

This cure, prescribed by Trump, is indeed worse than the problem because he will have blood on his hands for the deaths of more Americans.

PEOPLE ARE DYING! As of press time, the coronavirus pandemic has infected more than 52,000 people and killed more than 691 in the United States.

Globally, the number of people that have tested positive with the COVID-19 has topped 416,000 and the death toll is now more than 18,500.

The coronavirus pandemic is on an upward trajectory, with the rise in the number of Americans getting infected and dying more than doubling every week.

Meanwhile, New York — the hotspot of the outbreak — records a doubling every three days. And this is just about to get worse, AND could be the future faced by other states.

As hospitals are getting overwhelmed by the growing cases of coronavirus infections, our doctors, nurses, and other front liners’ lives are now in danger; some have already died in the line of duty. Overworked and

Street Talk GREG B. MACABENTA CHRIS Cuomo, the host of the CNN news-commentary program, “Cuomo Prime Time,” had good news about someone who had been found positive for the strain of coronavirus, known as COVID19.

The good news was that the patient was recovering.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates the COVID-19 mortality rate at 3.4%. That’s the bad news. On that basis, shouldn’t it be good news that 96.6% of those infected survive? Even in Wuhan, China, where the disease first began to spread, the mortality rate was 4.9%, early on.

In other words, being found positive for COVID-19 is not necessarily a death sentence. In fact, a full recovery is likely.

In this millennium, the world has experienced two other types of coronavirus epidemics — and we survived. In the fall of 2002, the world reeled from the spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV), a type of coronavirus (named after its crown-like spikes). The SARS

ter. When you have to buy water by the container or fetch the day’s supply for the household from a communal artesian well, regular hand washing becomes

a luxury.

At the same time, the need to conserve water is emphasized on World Water Day. The global population continues to grow, putting a strain on fresh water resources. Analysts have warned that international conflicts are likely to be sparked by water resource exploitation. Water is used not just for sanitation and keeping pathogens at bay, but also for irrigation and energy generation. Efficient water resource management, through recycling and conservation practices, can prevent shortages. On World Water Day, as people are urged to promote “safe hands” amid the COVID19 contagion, everyone is also reminded not to forget to turn off the tap.

Philstar.com photo

What is more important to you: The survival of your family and public health or Trump’s call for the US economy to open by Easter? stretched to the limit, they have not been supplied with all the needed hospital gears to help them protect themselves and their families.

Meanwhile, many Americans are dying because testing has not been optimized on a scale required to help mitigate the spread, and the federal government has not been able to fulfill the number of ventilators urgently needed right there and then to keep patients alive.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has been calling out Trump for not acting urgently to the needs of the states given the power and resources accorded to the Office of the President and the Federal Government.

As the Hill reported: “Cuomo and other governors have pleaded with the Trump administration for more ventilators from the national stockpile of medical supplies. There are about 12,700 ventilators in that stockpile, but Cuomo said the administration has only sent 400 to New York.”

“What am I going to do with 400 ventilators when I need 30,000?” Cuomo said. “You pick the 26,000 people who are going to die because you only sent 400 ventilators.”

In several television interviews, Cuomo also urged Trump to use the Defense Production Act (DPA) to force manufacturers to make more ventilators.

Cuomo stressed that given the urgency of the need for ventila-

tors, businesses need start-up capital and contracts with the federal government to get ventilators out to states in such a short period of time.

Yet as state governments and other countries implement more proactive and drastic measures to help slow down the pandemic and save the lives of the American people, the President of the United States has been obsessed with the numbers: falling stock market, growing unemployment rate, businesses closing because of the pandemic.

On Monday, March 23, Trump has expressed weariness about social distancing’s impact on the economy and has expressed the need to scale back on the drastic measures local governments have implemented, such as secure in place orders and lockdowns.

This move toward loosening restrictions on social distancing and similar measures go against facts and the warnings of senior U.S. health officials, including Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who have been disclosing the science-based fact that the United States has not yet felt the worst of the pandemic.

People who tuned in to Monday’s White House Press briefing were wondering why Dr. Fauci was not in the briefing, but Trump’s doubling down on lies he had been fact-checked on

by Dr. Fauci and Food and Drug

Administration (FDA) commissioner Stephen Hahn in the past would explain why.

During the briefing, Trump again reiterated the lie that the malaria drug chloroquine has already been approved by the FDA, and that the manufacturing and distribution of this drug will be happening quickly. This assertion is NOT true and this is dangerous! The drug has yet to be proven to be safe and truly effective to be prescribed as a treatment to COVID-19 based on scientific clinical trials done under the auspices of a protocol. .

CNN reported that a man from Arizona is dead and his wife is under critical care after the two took chloroquine phosphate in an apparent attempt to self-medicate for the novel coronavirus.

NBC News spoke to the wife, who said they took the drug after they learned of chloroquine’s connection to the coronavirus during a President Donald Trump news conference.

CNN also reported that health officials in Nigeria have issued a warning over chloroquine after they said three people in the country overdosed on the drug, in the wake of Trump’s comments about using it to treat the coronavirus.

With all the mixed messages coming from Trump, Fox News, and the Republicans vs the health officials, science experts and the facts of what is going

on in other countries, Trump decided to silence Dr. Fauci, who could only speak now on matters approved by the Trump Administration. VP Mike Pence would now be controlling all coronavirus messaging.

On Tuesday, the reality superstar-turned president just announced that he wants to reopen the U.S. economy by April 12, and was describing how great it would be to see people flock their churches for Easter Sunday. He said he wants the United States to open businesses, restaurants, theaters, bars, and casinos and ask “less vulnerable” people to go back to work.

WHAT IS TRUMP THINKING? April 12 is just a little more than two weeks away. Scientists and health officials say the virus is still spreading at a rapid rate by that time. What makes him think he can just do this and have our hospitals get even more overwhelmed and get more people infected and killed?

Will you allow the United States to be the next epicenter of the coronavirus in the world?

We would have not been in this desperate situation had Trump not eliminated the White House National Security Council Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense, established by President Barack Obama, to prepare the United States for future pandemics like COVID-19. This is consistent with Trump’s obsession to erase

Obama’s legacy in America.

We would have not been in this desperate situation had Trump not cut huge funding for health institutions like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has undermined COVID-19 containment efforts.

We wouldn’t have been in this desperate situation had Trump not covered up and undermined the threat of coronavirus despite warnings of a pandemic from the scientists and health officials because he deemed this will hurt the economic numbers he has been bragging about and therefore, could cost him his reelection.

NOW that coronavirus has escalate to be a pandemic and has killed many Americans, Trump is still denying scientific facts because he is obsessing over good economic numbers — Wall Street index, low unemployment rate and high GDP — not because he cares for you. He is putting our health and safety at risk for his political survival.

ENOUGH! Speak up and speak out! Our life depends on your voice. ***

epidemic, which was reported mainly in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Toronto, was brought under control by the middle of 2003 — or in less than a year — “by means of syndromic surveillance, prompt isolation of patients, strict enforcement of quarantine of all contacts and, in some areas, community-level quarantine. By interrupting all human-to-human transmission, SARS was effectively eradicated.”

(Source: The Lancet). Vaccines have since been developed but research continues.

In 2014, another type of coronavirus called Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) was traced to Saudi Arabia. Only two confirmed cases of MERS infection were identified in the U.S., while more than 1,300 tested negative. However, in the Middle East, 3 or 4 out of 10 infected died of the ailment, making the mortality rate, as a percentage of those infected, alarmingly high.

In an online report, the mortality rate of MERS was estimated at 34%, while that of SARS was 9.6%. Both are considerably higher than the 3.4% death rate of COVID-19. However, because SARS was contained within a year and the incidence of MERS was mainly in the Arabian Penin-

sula, they did not cause the panic we are now witnessing.

In contrast, the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic has been worldwide, thousands have bee infected and hundreds have died.

And because of the lack of information, it has made everyone fearful, like being afraid of the dark.

SARS and COVID-19 are said to be similar in many respects.

The difference, according to experts is in the latter’s transmissibility (it is transmitted more rapidly and, therefore, is more contagious). Worse yet, the mild outward symptoms can be deceptive, making those positive for the virus less aware of the danger of infecting others, until it is too late.

This makes pre-emptive testing imperative. We should not wait to get sick before being tested! The problem in the U.S., however, is finding a testing facility, although the federal government has vowed to solve that. Meanwhile, because of inadequate testing kits, health authorities have advised that only those showing symptoms should be tested.

This is one cause of anxiety and panic. In contrast, one can have a flu vaccination even without flu symptoms. Remember the adage,

“An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure”?

The median incubation period of COVID-19 is estimated to be 5.1 days. According to studies, “under conservative assumptions,” 101 out of every 10,000 cases will develop symptoms, within 11.5 to 15.6 days of active monitoring or quarantine.” This explains the 14day quarantine period that health authorities require.

The race is now on to develop a vaccine for COVID-10. But authorities calculate that it will take at least 18 months to develop a vaccine and get it cleared for use on humans. However, authorities believe that the ailment can be mitigated with the SARS vaccine.

Here’s what one online report states: “Researchers in the US have mapped a SARS-CoV-2 protein, which could help use drugs developed to treat SARS coronavirus as effective treatments for the new COVID-19 disease...the Nsp15 protein from SARS-CoV-2 is 89% similar to the SARS-CoV protein. Previous SARS studies published in 2010 show that Nsp15 inhibition can slow viral replication, offering hope for the use of Nsp-15-targeting drugs to treat COVID-19. Mapping of a 3D protein structure allows better in-

sights into the virus’ replication in human cells.”

But what is even more reassuring is an authoritative article in UCHealth Today, a publication of the University of Colorado Hospital (ranked America’s best in pulmonology), that stated that “most people who fall ill recover within two weeks. People with more severe cases generally recover in three to six weeks.”

Health authorities stress, however, that the disease is “very contagious.” This is one reason why people are panicking in the U.S. But the bigger reason is the lack of sufficient knowledge about the epidemic, the inadequate testing capability, and the incompetence of President Donald Trump. Unfortunately, the hysteria has been made worse by media reports on the number of those infected and the number of fatalities, with little or nothing said about those who have recovered.

Of course, raising false hopes is not helpful either. But the facts should be stated clearly, objectively and credibly. It, therefore, doesn’t help to have a president who habitually lies.

Health professionals have cautioned older people about their greater vulnerability to COVID19. The death rate for seniors is

much, much higher. The elderly, especially those with heart, lung and immunological conditions, are more susceptible to infection.

In one senior facility, all those who had succumbed to COVID19 already had a respiratory or another ailment.

In other words, the younger and healthier a person is, the greater the chances of recovery.

But doctors advise against taking the ailment for granted. Even NBA players have been found positive after exposure to infected parties.

And the flu, with a mortality rate of less than 1%, can still cause death (UCHealth Today points out that the flu is a strain of coronavirus).

It is best to avoid crowds; best to wash hands with soap and warm water; use a disinfectant on hands, on door handles, and on high traffic surfaces; avoid touching your face; and cough and sneeze into a tissue, and properly discard it. Most of all, it is best to be tested.

At any rate, the prospect of recovery from COVID-19 does not justify the idiotic comments of Trump when the coronavirus red flag was first raised in the U.S. Calling the epidemic a hoax being spread by the Democrats, u PAGE 7

Gel Santos Relos has been in news, talk, public service and educational broadcasting since 1989 with ABS-CBN and is now serving the Filipino audience using different platforms, including digital broadcasting, and print, and is working on a new public service program for the community. You may contact her through email at gelrelos@icloud. com, or send her a message via Facebook at Facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos.

Why not news about those who get well from the coronavirus?

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LAS VEGAS ASIAN JOURNAL • mARch 26-ApRIL 1, 2020

PH military vows to adhere to UN’s Optimism in resilient real estate call for ‘immediate global ceasefire’

by Amy

R. Remo Inquirer.net

a global ceasefire,” he said in a statement.

The Philippine government ARMED Forces of the Philip- last week declared a unilateral pines chief Gen. Felimon Santos ceasefire with communist rebels, Jr. said Tuesday, March 24 that which will last until April 15.

“And the AFP, from its leadthe military will heed to the appeal of the United Nations for ership down to the last element an “immediate global ceasefire” on the ground, adheres to it relito protect the most vulnerable giously,” Santos said.

While its law enforcement in conflict amid the coronavirus operations against communist (COVID-19) pandemic.

“We could not agree more rebels continue, the military has with the UN SecGen’s call for shifted its focus on assisting the

by FRAnces

mAngosing Inquirer.net

IT’S stating the obvious: the COVID-19 pandemic and the month-long, Luzon-wide quarantine imposed by the government would dampen the growth of the Philippine economy.

American investment bank JP Morgan Chase Bank had reported that it lowered the country’s full year gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast to 5.1 percent year on year from a previous forecast of 6.2 percent, noting that “the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the Philippine economy may be larger than first anticipated.” Economists from Union Bank of the Philippines were reported to have said that the country’s 2020 GDP was seen to grow by only 5.4 percent, “as the ties in Fiery Cross are envisioned enhanced community quarantine to monitor coral reef biomes or locked down 73 percent of the the island’s flora and fresh water economy and restricted the moveconservation, while those in Subi ment of people.” Local and interReef will house seismic stability national stock markets likewise and fresh water monitoring sys- reeled from this pandemic, with downturns not seen since the last tems.

Fiery Cross and Subi Reefs are global financial crisis more than a two of Beijing’s “big three” milita- decade ago.

Resilient industries rized islands in the Spratlys, parDespite all these, some quarticularly transforming the former ters continue to be optimistic into a fortified airbase in 2017.

In July 2016, a United Nations- that there remained bright spots backed tribunal characterized Fi- in the economy—with certain inery Cross Reef as a rock that can’t dustries seen to be resilient amid sustain habitation or economic the growing threat of COVID-19 life. It is allowed a 12-nautical on the health and lives of people, and the global economy. mile territorial sea.

Prof. Enrique Soriano III, execAs to Subi Reef, the arbitral tribunal also concluded that the is- utive director of Wong+Bernstein land is a low-tide elevation, which Advisory Group, pointed out that means that it disappears during real estate is one of those resilhigh tide and has no maritime en- ient sectors, especially in the case of the Philippines where a huge titlement. n demand for housing remains un-

government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We have trailed our focus on this virulent but unseen enemy that has claimed the lives of 33 of our countrymen and thus far infected 501. And this development pushes us harder,” Santos said.

Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison, meanwhile, said he is recommending a unilateral ceasefire as a response the UN call. n

With world busy fighting coronavirus, China quietly builds installations on Philippine-claimed reefs

by PAtRiciA LouRdes Philstar.com

ViRAy

MANILA — While the rest of the world is busy battling the coronavirus pandemic, China, where the virus originated, has taken advantage of the countries’ preoccupation by building new facilities on Philippine-claimed territories in West Philippine Sea. On Friday, government-funded Chinese Academy of Sciences launched two research stations on Fiery Cross (Kagitingan) and Subi Reefs in Spratly Islands to “help scientists expand their research into deep sea ecology, geology, environment, material sciences and marine energy,” state-run Xinhua reported.

“They also play a part in monitoring ecological and seismic changes in key regions of the

South China Sea,” it added.

As it is, the state-sponsored think tank running the new installments has a research center based on Mischief Reef, which the July 2016 international arbitral award ruled to be part of the Philippines.

While Subi Reef and Fiery Cross are different territories not subject of the ruling, Manila is also laying claim on the islands located closer to the country, sitting around 100 km and 24 km off Palawan, respectively.

According to the news report, the new stations would serve as research units meant to support Beijing’s all-encompassing development programs in South China Sea, an area where freedom of navigation has been under attack due to China’s militarization.

Specifically, new Chinese facili-

met.

“For the long term, I would still bet my last centavo on real estate. Real estate investing, when done right, will continue to be a local play for most investors. Unless you are a methodical stock market player, the risk is higher in capital markets as stock movements are heavily correlated to regional and global events,” Soriano said in an interview.

“The sector has been on an upswing for close to 10 years already. It is bound to slow down with or without COVID-19. Behaviorally, in any downturn, the real estate market will naturally correct itself. In due time, it will start picking up again. The upside is clear: it is a very resilient sector struggling to cover more than six million housing units. All these housing requirements are based on real demand,” he further said.

Soriano further pointed out that the COVID-19 pandemic is unlikely to have any significant impact on the supply of housing stock. Any prolonged uncertainty, however, will likely reduce demand and a decline in price points on selected geographies, and this slowdown—albeit a temporary one—may weigh heavily on housing developers with a limited capital base.

Still, there are plenty of bright spots, according to Soriano.

“Developers have now realized that technology is a business disruptor and they will be compelled to pursue a multitude of technological applications to boost safety in their housing projects and workplaces. Combining infrastructure with healthcare innovation will now be a powerful value

driver both for survival and sustainability. In the end, technology will disrupt real estate economics making the complacent players obsolete,” he explained.

“It should be business as usual for investors. Managing the risk as a result of the current uncertainty is the only hurdle for property players to overcome,” Soriano further said.

7 trends For its part, real estate service firm Santos Knight Frank pointed out that “despite the impact of COVID-19 and downturn in international stock markets, the Philippine real estate industry continues to have reasons to be optimistic.”

In a statement, Santos Knight Frank said this optimism stemmed from the seven trends seen to shape Philippine real estate in 2020. These include the roll out of real estate investment trust (REIT), which is seen to unlock a number of opportunities in the property market; continued expansion of business process outsourcing industry as fueled by healthcare, animation and game development; and the growth of co-working spaces.

Other trends include: developers’ new focus on sustainability as they become increasingly aware of their environmental impact; the growing requirements of industrial and logistics industries, which have turned their sights outside the capital region for new sites for expansion; Metro Manila remaining a prime residential market; and finally, the growth of co-living spaces, as well as the rise of the micro-studio as a halfway home for Metro Manila’s workforce. n

WHO: DIY COVID-19 protective gear better than nothing by gAeA

Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano and Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea pose for a photo that drew flak on social media during the special session at the House of Representatives on Monday, March 23. Cayetano said they were not comparing themselves to heroic healthcare workers and were just out to stress to the public the importance of observing strict quarantine rules to combat the coronavirus disease 2019. The chamber tackled President Duterte’s call for wider presidential powers in leading government efforts to contain the viral illness.

Inquirer.net photo by Niño Jesus Orbeta

No, we’re not comparing ourselves to healthcare frontliners – Cayetano MANILA — Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano explained the story behind the photo opportunity during a special session of Congress that drew flak and the ire of netizens on social media amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

On Monday, March 23. Cayetano and Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, as well as several members of the House of Representatives, posed for photo while holding a poster with the message: “Together with doctors and frontliners, we went to work for you, so please stay home for us.”

This, however, did not sit well with those on social media, who took note of the lawmakers comparing themselves to frontliners who are exposed on a daily basis to the risks of the viral illness.

But in a Facebook live session, Cayetano cleared the air

and clarified that they were only intending to send a message to the public.

“No, we’re not comparing ourselves to the frontliners. Hats off kami, malayo (It’s not a similar comparison). Ang mga frontliners (Our frontliners), every single second they’re risking their lives. Kaya nga kami (That’s why), we are just extending the message, stay home,” Cayetano said.

“Kung meron pong symptoms (If you have symptoms), isolate yourselves. Kung positive at kailangan na nasa hospital, pumunta na sa ospital (If you are positive and you need to be in the hospitals, go to hospitals),” Cayetano said.

In his opening speech during the special session for COVID19 response, Cayetano lamented that many Filipinos are not observing social distancing despite

the enhanced community quarantine placed all over Luzon.

“Marami pa rin po sa ating kababayan ang hindi nagso-social distancing. Medyo parang piyesta pa sa kanilang lugar, nagiinuman sa tabi and they don’t see that we can become dangerous to each other,” Cayetano said.

(Many of our countrymen are still not observing social distancing. It seemed there are still fiestas in their communities, drinking on the side of a street, and they don’t see that each one is a possible threat.)

A report by the Associated Press defined “social distancing” as the process of limiting people to gather and spreading the virus—a move that is being practiced in Italy and Japan where there are also reported positive cases of the disease. (Neil Arwin Mercado/Inquirer.net)

3 US sailors aboard warship in...

PAGE 5

According to a report from ABC News, about 5,000 crew members are aboard the warship currently in the Philippine Sea. “Our force remains on watch throughout the world [during] this crisis, and they’re continuing to execute their primary mission under the National Defense Strategy,” Modly said.

In the same press briefing, U.S. Navy Adm. Michael Gilday, chief of naval operations, said it was still unclear where the virus came from.

The aircraft carrier’s last port call was in Da Nang, Vietnam, 15 days before the U.S. Navy sailors were diagnosed.

“I think it would be difficult to tie down these active cases to

that particular port visit. We’ve had aircraft flying to and from the ship, and so we just don’t want to say it was that particular port visit. We took great precautions when that crew came back from that shore period to do enhanced medical screening of the crew,” Gilday said.

Gilday noted that the three sailors who tested positive for the virus are “running a temperature” and have some body aches but wouldn’t necessarily be characterized as needing hospitalization.

“But they’re positive, those three cases. So we are rapidly removing them from the ship, and we are understanding who they came in contact with over the recent days and weeks so we

can begin to take a look inside the ship, how we can isolate and contain as best we can,” the admiral said.

The number of deaths around the world from the novel coronavirus now stands at 18,259, according to a tally compiled by AFP on Tuesday from official sources.

More than 404,020 declared cases have been registered in 175 countries and territories since the epidemic first emerged in China in December.

The tallies, using data collected by AFP offices from national authorities and information from the World Health Organization (WHO), likely reflect only a fraction of the actual number of infections. (Patricia Lourdes Viray with reports from AFP)

Why not news about those who get...

PAGE 6 Trump said: “So if, you know, we have thousands or hundreds of thousands of people that get better just by, you know, sitting around and even going to work...some of them go to work, but they get better. They’ll get better very rapidly, they don’t even see a doctor, they don’t even call a doctor.”

VTrump has since done an about-face. In his message to America on Wednesday, March 11, he advised people to “stay home” if they were sick or had symptoms.

From calling the alarming reports

a hoax, Trump also declared a national emergency last March 13 and mustered both government and private sector resources to contain the virus.

Perhaps, much of the hysteria caused by COVID-19 would have been avoided if China had been more transparent concerning its surge in Wuhan; if Trump had avoided making idiotic remarks, and had displayed effective leadership in confronting the crisis; if more intelligent information about the epidemic had been promptly disseminated; and if adequate

testing capabilities had been immediately marshalled.

To a large extent, the panic could have been minimized if the media had provided more balanced reports, telling the good news along with the bad.

Unfortunately, the tendency to sensationalize may be ingrained in every media person. In journalism school, this is what’s drilled into the heads of aspiring reporters: “What is news? Dog bites man is not news. Man bites dog is news.” (gregmacabenta@hotmail.com)

KAtReenA Philstar.com

cAbico

WITH personal protective equipment like face masks in short supply, the World Health Organization said using do-ityourself protective gear is better than nothing.

The dire shortage of face masks and other protective gear across the globe risks the health of millions—especially health workers—amid the new coronavirus pandemic.

“It is unfortunate but people

have to adapt and use do-it-yourself kits. WHO does not encourage this but this is a stop gap measure as we address a global shortage,” physician Rabindra Abeyasinghe, WHO representative to the Philippines, said in a press briefing Tuesday.

While DIY masks do not offer 100% protection, they still “provide some degree of protection.”

“Any protection will be better than no protection,” Abeyasinghe said.

The WHO official also called on the private sector to help sup-

port the government’s effort in procuring PPEs for health care workers who are in the forefront of the fight against the new coronavirus.

“We need to protect our health workers because if health workers are falling sick, there will be no one to provide support and care for sick people,” he said.

There are now 501 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the Philippines after detecting 39 new infections. The death toll stood at 33, while 19 patients recovered. n

March 26-april 1, 2020 • laS VEGaS aSiaN JOUrNal

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VEGAS&STYLE

Journal From registered nurse to first Fil-Am co-owner of a US hospital: How Vicki Rollins transformed a struggling medical center into a five-star rated hospital

With the coronavirus pandemic on everyone’s minds and affecting LA County at a growing rate, LADMC said it is prepared to take ONLY two hospitals in the in patients and abide by guidelines city of Los Angeles received the by the Centers for Disease Control highest five-star rating from the and Prevention (CDC). It is also Centers for Medicare & Medicaid pushing telehealth services for Services (CMS) this past January non-emergencies so patients can — and one of them is in the heart see a doctor instead of physiof Historic Filipinotown and is run cally coming to the hospital as by a Filipina American. social distancing measures are Formerly known as the Silver in place.

Lake Medical Center, the Los AnRollins, who is originally from geles Downtown Medical Center Tolosa, Leyte, began her career (LADMC) along West Temple as a registered nurse when she Street has undergone a complete migrated to the United States in transformation in the last 12 the early ‘80s and worked her months under the leadership of way to becoming a psychiatric Vicki Palana Rollins, the first Filnursing and clinical instructor Am to co-own a hospital system in and a licensed nursing home the United States. administrator.

Rollins, along with business “At the time I migrated, if you partner William Nelson, purwanted to be a manager, it was chased the struggling medical tough because as a woman and center after it went into banka minority, you had to do your ruptcy in February 2019. homework four, six times more Today, the 36,000-square-foot than your counterparts,” she hospital holds 219 inpatient beds said.

She and Nelson formed RollinsNelson Healthcare Management in 1998 and together, they are the owner/operators of several skilled nursing facilities, assisted living communities and acute care hospitals across Southern California in cities like Long Beach, Torrance, Glendora and Perris.

The first acute hospital the duo acquired was West Covina Medical Center, a short-term hospital with 46 staffed beds, in 2014. As operators of skilled nursing facilities, this purchase was the natural next step as the two services need to work in unison to provide the continuity of care for patients.

“The delivery of care will be much better and the price of delivering care would be cost-effective.

LA Downtown Medical Center, located along Temple St. in Historic Filipinotown, is one of two hospitals in the city that received a five-star Our patients were going to differrating.

Photo courtesy of LADMC ent acute hospitals and we would

By Christina

M. Oriel

AJPress

EMPLOYMENT

and has a 24/7 urgent care center with over 1,600 staff members total — about 65% of whom are of Filipino descent — to deliver quality and culturally sensitive health care to Historic Filipinotown as well as to the surrounding neighborhoods of Echo Park and Silver Lake.

“The hospital had a bad history and reputation, with two bankruptcies…Our timeline to rehabilitate the hospital was like two years but miracles can happen,” Rollins told the Asian Journal following the first anniversary of LADMC on March 5.

She added, “When you just really focus on what you want to do for the operations and the patients, then everything falls in place. We were able to change the culture of the people here.”

The reinvigorated morale was evident during the anniversary as the staff and community celebrated the strides over the past year.

Among them are the recruitment of 60 new medical and surgical staff for the operating rooms and psychiatric services, and the upgrades of digital X-ray systems, surgical and pulmonary function test equipment.

“On the other side of the urgent care, we’re doing behavioral mental health screening, the ones who are going to be admitted to the psych unit of the hospital, so the acute hospital has a 40% behavioral component,” Rollins described.

“All the services came back because we were able to recruit a bunch of physicians, including a few Cedars-Sinai physicians and some from St. Vincent’s Hospital after it closed.” (Cedars-Sinai is the only other five-star hospital in the city.)

In addition to the Historic Filipinotown hospital, the sale came with the center’s Ingleside campus, which has 118 psychiatric beds, in Rosemead about 10 miles away.

FOR RENT

Vicki Rollins, co-owner of LA Downtown Medical Center in Los Angeles’ Historic Filipinotown.

AJPress photo by Noel Ty

lose some of our patients because they would not come back to our facilities,” Rollins said.

Four years later, the first opportunity to purchase Silver Lake Medical Center was presented to the company, but the transaction fell through. The hospital soon went into bankruptcy and the RollinsNelson Group joined the auction in February 2019.

The campus had undergone a series of misfortunes over the years before the current ownership. When it was City of Angels Medical Center, the former CEO was sent to prison for a massive scheme to defraud Medicare and Medi-Cal programs by recruiting homeless patients for unnecessary medical services. The name changed to Silver Lake Medical Center in 2009 and some controversies followed, including a

SERVICES

$550,000 settlement by LA City and LA County prosecutors after the facility illegally dumped homeless patients at bus and train stations, according to the Los Angeles Times.

“Our company specializes in taking over troubled facilities.

That’s what we do best. When there’s a lot of room for improvement, we see that we can do a lot.

That been our pattern of success,” Nelson, who serves as chief executive officer of LADMC, said.

Added Rollins, “Fundamentally I think that people were good here.

They just needed direction, reeducation, nurturing, guidance and leadership.”

With several facilities under their belt, the duo says they bring the “RNG philosophy” to each one, which includes personalized PAGE 10

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Immigrant Living: 101 and Beyond Monette aDeva Maglaya CARE to dance?

Most people have rhythm embedded in their DNA. Music moves them emotionally and physically. Music is a powerful gravity-defying force that can speak to the soul.

Watch when people listen to an upbeat Michael Jackson tune or even a Strauss waltz piece and before long, they will transform any empty space into a dance floor, dancing by themselves, or even trip the light fantastic if they are lucky enough to be with someone who shares their love for music and dancing.

Test yourself if you have rhythm in you. See if a few strains of any kind of music move you emotionally and get you busting a few moves yourself.

Want to see real honest to goodness dancing? Check out the video on youtube titled “Old movie stars dance to Uptown Funk” sang by Bruno Mars. It is this wonderfully edited and seamlessly spliced YouTube video of the Hollywood stars of a past golden era, exhibiting real talent in dancing. I just love watching the mixing of dance talent and current modern beat.

The video editor, whoever he or she may be, deserves praise.

Kudos!

Fred Astaire, in my opinion, is beyond compare. There will never be another Astaire on earth who can take to the dance floor and make it look so easy.

Sigh … The music he danced to seemed welded into his bones.

But such perfection in movement didn’t come without a price. He must have practiced until his bones and muscles at the end of each rehearsal day cried out for mercy. He must have burned out so much energy that accounted for his lean physique and lightness of feet.

But we don’t’ have to be that great of a dancer to enjoy the music and move to its beat.

Dancing is exhilarating. If you want real justification to ‘bust a move’ as they say, dancing is real good exercise and is fun!

Exercise, as you probably know, is one of only 2 ways (laughter being the other one) that the

Community Journal

Bucket list No. 10

Health@Heart

Let the music move you

“... And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.”

— Ascribed to Friedrich Nietzsche body naturally produces endorphin — that feel-good, healthy hormone that is still by far, the best medicine for both body and spirit. We all have it in us and is absolutely free.

So go ahead, even if you have two left feet, and tend to step on your partner’s feet when dancing. Shed your inhibitions and DANCE! Let the music move you. With dedicated repetition and practice, you might even surprise yourself one day with a dance routine.

Cut back the time spent online. We fritter away much of our time browsing and imbibing toxic things from the internet that wear away and erode the joy of our souls during our time here on earth. Get off your backside and listen to music that resonates with your body as you cook, clean your car, clean out the garage or do other mind numbing chores.

If all else fails, start humming as you work. My cousin, who has been a dentist for decades and has just retired in her early eighties, used to hum as she worked on her patients’ mouths.

She was passionate about her work and it showed. The music pours out of her. When her husband was still alive, they would hit the dance floor at parties whenever they could.

Music makes things easier as the arduous tasks get done.

If you do mental work like writing or analysis that needs intense focus and you tend to get easily distracted, listen to soft, unobtrusive instrumental music so the words don’t get in the way. On hot summer nights when sleep is elusive and the air conditioning is busted, listen and fall asleep to the sounds of gentle rain on your smartphone.

It’s hypnotic. This beats having to drink those dangerous sleep aids with horrid side effects.

Not all music soothes the soul

though. Choose wisely. There is a smorgasbord of music to choose from and like anything else, our choices determine the outcome. It is no wonder that the younger generations who grew up listening to that socalled music genre of troubling, raspy, jagged sounds that focus on the seedy side of life such as blood, sex, violence, gang culture and others have strayed so far away from what is good.

It was said that there were celestial strains of music by a host of angels floating above the stable in Bethlehem at the time Christ was born more than two thousand years ago. My wild guess is it may have been musical strains of Handel’s “Messiah.”

Was there music in the Garden of Eden? Perhaps yes before sin came to be and Eden went dank and dark. And if you are living and trying to get to heaven, you may wonder if there is going to be music and dancing there as well.

If lightness of being and freedom from the stranglehold of gravity and earthly concerns characterize life beyond death, the answer is probably a big resounding YES. So while alive and your body and limbs are functional, dance with sheer abandon as you let good music move you. It is purely speculative but I have a gut feeling there is going to be a lot of dancing on an immense celestial dance floor as you bust your heavenly moves on a conga line.

Stand aside, Fred. You’ve got some serious competition up there.

Next week: Another idea to consider for The Bucket List... *** Nota Bene: Monette Adeva Maglaya is SVP of Asian Journal Publications, Inc. To send comments, e-mail monette.maglaya@asianjournalinc.com

PhiliP S. Chua, MD, FaCS, FPCS THE younger generation is also vulnerable to get COVID-19! It is a deadly misconception that they are not, a fake news that puts the elderly at even greater risk. Irresponsible people of any age could make this pandemic worse than the virus itself, by being arrogant and inconsiderate, not cooperating with the health authorities.

Some of the Florida spring-breakers on beaches shown on TV a few days ago, disregarding warnings to stay home or practice social distancing, tested positive for COVID-19!

It is obvious that those young people on their school break – celebrating on beaches and bars, etc., not heeding the call to hunker down and do social distancing, not staying home to self-quarantine themselves – do not realize how vital isolation is when it comes to a killer infectious disease, like COVID-19.

Perhaps believing they are invincible because of their robust immune system, they apparently did not know that in the United States alone, almost 30 percent of those hospitalized for COVID-19 were between 20-44 years old, and 18 percent between 45 and 54, as reported by CDC. In France, more than 50 percent of COVID-19 infected patients in the ICU are under the age of 60.

While it is true that seniors are at a higher risk to die from COVID-19 infection, especially those super seniors with medical issues (diabetes, COPD, high blood pressure, heart and/or lung disease, etc., who are at the highest risk, like those immuno-compromised patients), young people, are nonetheless at risk of catching the virus and possibly die from it. To protect the elderly, young people must be far away from them, and everybody is safer at home.

Postpone our appointment with God Let us try to postpone our meeting with God as long as we can. This is a wonderful world we live in. And we can certainly make it even more wonderful, with understanding, patience, forgiveness where needed, love and compassion among all peoples of all nations on this planet Earth.

During this crisis, all who can must stay home and enjoy family

LAS VEGAS ASIAN JOURNAL • MARch 26-ApRIL 1, 2020

COVID-19 also kills the young bonding. We have so many electronic gadgets plus internet access to help us “beam” ourselves (like Captain kirk) to any part of the world. With Amazon, YouTube, Netflix, Vudu and others, with Google, Alexa, Siri, Bixby, not to mention Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Messenger, Tango, Skype, we can do a lot to enjoy at home. Our spirit and our mind can still soar to greater heights in this age of endless information and mind-boggling technology during this crisis, while all countries around the globe commune with each other to defeat a vicious invisible common enemy.

No handshake, no hugging Self-quarantine, isolation and social distancing are all vital and very effective in our battle against COVID-19. Smiling and greeting each other, instead of handshaking or Hi-Fiving, or hugging, or cheek-kissing, even with our elderly parents or grandparents are part of our DIY strategy to protect the more vulnerable among us – the seniors, especially those with health issues. Most of the carriers, asymptomatic or with symptoms, are usually the young ones who are out on the street. Let us stay home, remain healthy, and not be the carrier and courier of death. Also, washing hands well after touching money, our mail, and delivered packages will help prevent a disaster.

Heroes amongst us Our healthcare providers, physicians and nurses, allied care personnel, and the first responders, who are on the frontlines of this war against killer COVID-19, are our unsung heroes who risk their health and their lives to serve patients of this pandemic. Some of them have actually died. While we, at home, have the choice to stay away from those infected patients, these unselfish and dedicated heroes are in the war zone, putting themselves in harm’s way, exposing themselves to the bullets and bombs during this pandemic, just to save countless lives. They also risk the lives of their family when they get home to catch some sleep and rest. Indeed, we must never forget them. Without them, hundreds of millions of people would die around the world. The Bubonic plague (Black Death, caused by bacterium Yersinia pestis) of 1347-1351, the worst pandemic, killed an estimated 75 to 200 million people in EurAsia, wiping out about 1/3 of the population of

Europe. Let’s protect our health defenders or we all could die.

Each of us must make sure these frontline heroes and foundation of our national and individual health are themselves protected.

Let us not hoard masks, gowns, medications, and other items they might need while serving the public. Above all, let us follow the guidelines recommended by President Trump, Vice President Pence, and the COVID-19 Task Force, in order not to get infected ourselves and add more patients to an already overwhelmed healthcare system.

If we, as individuals, cannot help provide healthcare or other vital function to society, let us stay home and OUT OF THE WAY of the health providers and not be an added burden to society by catching and spreading COVID19. As we said in our columns the previous weeks, a clean and wellventilated home is our best isolation sanctuary from COVID-19 to protect ourselves and others.

If only China was transparent According to the whistleblower in Wuhan, the first case of nCorona virus infection (later officially named COVID-19, caused

by SARS-CoV2 virus), was in November 17, 2019. The official report from China to the WHO was December 31, 2019, 34 days after the fact.

If the first patient and all the healthcare providers involved, all the patient’s family members and people the patient had contact with, let’s say 100 of them or even more, were traced and quarantined for at least 2 weeks, the infection could have been contained in Wuhan, and not spread outside of that city and around the world.

The outbreak could have been contained within 2 to 4 months right there and there. Isolation works. The Black Death (1347), Spanish Flu (1819), SARS (2003), H1N1 (2009) MERS (2012) have all proven that quarantine worked.

Some experts think COVID-19 could infect 40 to 60 percent of the 7.8 billion world population before it ends.

Existential – Who is culpable?

After the COVID-19 pandemic is totally defeated and this existential crisis is over, investigation on culpability and accountability must begin. The World Health Organization, the United Nations, in cooperation with any interested PAGE 11

10

March 26-april 1, 2020 • laS VEGaS aSiaN JOUrNal

EntErtainmEnt

SoCal-based Pinay pastry chef wins Food Network’s ‘Chopped Sweets’ by christinA

M. oriel

AJPress

A FILIPINA American pastry chef and entrepreneur from Southern California won a recent episode of Food Network’s “Chopped Sweets.”

Ginger Lim-Dimapasok, the owner of ube-centric bakery Café 86, triumphed during the Monday, March 16 episode of “Chopped Sweets” entitled “Carnival Crunch Time.”

“Chopped Sweets,” a spinoff of the network’s popular show “Chopped,” features four bold pastry artists who compete for the $10,000 prize.

“The win could truly bring a lot of exposure to the cafe because this reached such a broad audience — not just nationwide, but worldwide,” Lim-Dimapasok told the Asian Journal in an interview.

Since the episode was aired, she has been receiving dozens of messages from individuals around the world.

She added, “To be honest, the messages I receive from around the world thanking me for giving them some sort of ray of light, even for that one day, meant so much more to me than anything else.”

Lim-Dimapasok was scouted for the show last summer and went through a series of interviews and auditions. By October, she was flown out to Food Network’s studios in New York to film the carnival-themed episode, which she said was “exciting and scary all at the same time.” Leading up to the episode’s release, she kept her TV appearance under wraps.

“Whatever you see on TV, that is just a part of how truly scary and exhilarating the entire process is.

For me, being someone who has watched Food Network most of my life and watched these shows and at some point fantasized about what it

Ginger Lim-Dimapasok, the owner of bakery Café 86, triumphed during the Monday, March 16 episode of “Chopped Sweets” entitled “Carnival Crunch Time.”

would be like to be on them, it was so surreal to be in the studios actually competing. It was literally like a dream come true,” she said.

Originally from Manila, LimDimapasok grew up in a family that ran a turo turo restaurant and bakeshop and was inspired by female chefs from Doreen Fernandez to Martha Stewart.

She migrated to Southern California and was a stay-at-home mom until she started Café 86 with her husband James in Chino Hills, California in 2014. To date, the couple has stores in Pasadena, Artesia, San Diego and Las Vegas and is famous for having over 50 desserts and drinks featuring ube.

“I came into the ‘Chopped Sweets’ competition knowing one thing for sure: I was going to cook what I love — Filipino food — and I was going to cook from the heart.

I had confidence that my knowledge and love of Filipino food and especially my Kapampangan roots would definitely help me deal with whatever ingredients they threw at

Lim-Dimapasok made three carnival-themed desserts, inspired by her Filipina heritage and love of Mexican street food, during an episode of “Chopped Sweets.”

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Iza hospitalized for pneumonia; awaits COVID-19 test results ACTRESS Iza Calzado revealed in an Instagram post on Wednesday, March 25 that she has been confined in an undisclosed hospital for pneumonia and was awaiting the results of her test for coronavirus 2019 or Covid-19 infection.

“Hello, everyone. It’s been a while but I thought I’d update you all. I’m currently hospitalized for pneumonia and so, I was tested for Covid-19 and I’ve been waiting for the results for several days now,” Calzado wrote.

“It’s been a challenging time for me but it cannot compare to the frontliners who have cared for me and to whom I am so grateful. My heart goes out to everyone in these trying times, especially those who risk their lives every day to care for their loved ones,” she added.

The 37-year-old award-winning actress asked for prayers of healing for everyone who is sick and for the frontliners as well.

“I am hoping you all can join me in prayer for those who are currently sick and their loved ones, for every person struggling to cope in these tough times. And most especially, for the medical workers who are doing their best despite the hurdles. I count this time as an opportunity to be kind. To be a source of love and light. With the grace of God, I can fight this and we all fight this together,” she ended.

Calzado’s last TV series was 2019’s “Ngayon at Kailanman.”

Movie-wise, Calzado was one

me,” Lim-Dimapasok said.

In her interviews during the episode, she proudly boasted her Filipina heritage and her competitive spirit.

During the first round of the episode, the basket items were churro corn dogs, watermelon slices, cream soda and corn on the cob. Inspired by Filipino desserts with corn, Lim-Dimapasok created a corn and cheese egg roll with cream soda and watermelon caramel.

Though her first batch of egg rolls burned, she was able to quickly frying more for the judges to taste.

Judge Brandi Milloy, who is also FilAm, said the egg roll had a “beautiful texture,” while Waylynn Lucas said it was the “perfect combination of sweet and savory.”

The second round presented contestants with a grilled pineapple sundae, chewy fruit squares, kiwi and cherry pickles.

The Pinay chef recalled this being the biggest challenge during the competition because she initially envisioned a fruit salad dessert but ended up concocting fruit nachos with pickle-fruit pico de gallo “inspired by the Mexican fruit carts of Los Angeles,” she said.

The nachos, which judges deemed a favorite, were topped with a swirl of pink cotton candy.

For the final round — where Lim-Dimapasok was left alongside Angela Malpedo of Bethlehem Dairy Store pastry chef in Bethlehem, PA — the surprise ingredients included unicorn popcorn, ice cream beads, rambutan and circus peanuts.

Lim-Dimapasok, sharing that her mother had a rambutan farm back in the Philippines, channeled the famous Filipino summer treat, halo halo, using coconut rambutan and lime sorbet.

When the time was up, judges presented the dish that would be eliminated and revealed Lim-Dimapasok’s win, which she dedicated to her two children.

“I was in tears when they announced me as the winner because this was truly a dream come true.

All I could think of was my family who has inspired me to do what I love to do and that is feed people,” she said. “Being able to utilize my mom’s favorite fruit in my winning dish was also amazing. Everything that I have become was because she and my dad believed in me and allowed me to do what I truly Ken San Jose love.”

Iza Calzado

Photo from Instagram/@missizacalzado

of the leads in the 2019 Metro Manila Film Festival entry “Culion”, alongside Jasmine CurtisSmith and Meryll Soriano.

In 2017, Calzado won the Yakushi Pearl Award for Best Performer at the 12th Osaka Asian Film Festival for the movie “Bliss” and was named Film

Actress Of The Year at the 46th Guillermo Mendoza Box Office Entertainment Awards in 2015 for “Starting Over Again.”

In December 2018, Calzado married expat Ben Wintle, founder and CEO of Booky food and lifestyle app. (Iza Iglesias/ ManilaTimes.net)

Dance is opening doors for Fil-Am newbie in Jason Derulo’s music video

by AllAn

PolicArPio Inquirer.net

THANKS to the fast-growing dance community on the internet, Filipino-American newbie Ken San Jose has managed to gain recognition and build online presence at such a young age: His dance covers on YouTube are viewed by millions, and, at just 15, he was tapped to be part of an international pop star’s music video.

He has proven his mettle as a dancer. This time, Ken, who’s now based in the Philippines, wants to prove that he can sing, too, in the hope of following in the footsteps of his idols, Billy Crawford and Gary Valenciano.

“The online dance community was getting bigger, and I feel blessed to have been caught in that wave when I was just starting out,” Ken, who danced for the music video of the 2017 Jason Derulo single, “If I’m Lucky,” told the Inquirer in a recent pocket interview.

But because he became more associated with dancing, many people get surprised, he said, when they find out that he can hold a tune.

“They don’t know that part of me. But I have always loved singing. Some of my favorite artists are Billy, Gary V, Chris Brown and Bruno Mars—artists who sing and dance,” he said.

In fact, it was singing he fell in love first. “My late father was part of the Papuri Singers group, so I have been singing since I was young. It’s just that the earlier opportunities I got were more for dancing,” pointed out Ken, who was born and raised in Los Angeles.

The 17-year-old artist recently released his second single, “A Chance to Hold”—a danceable track that was recorded in collaboration with the Photo from Instagram/@kensanjose

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From registered nurse to first Fil-Am co-owner of a...

PAGE 8

attention and care for employees as much as they do for their residents and patients.

Rollins touts that given the patients of different cultures and backgrounds who come through the LADMC doors, delivering culturally relevant care is at the forefront. That also means serving food that suits the patient’s preferences and culture, providing immediate transportation so patients aren’t waiting too long after being discharged, or easing family members’ anxiety as they’re waiting for loved ones, she said.

When asked about the CMS’ five-star rating — the first time

in the hospital’s 45-year history — Rollins said the overall hospital culture is reflected in that. The CMS uses a five-star quality rating system, with 57 quality measures across seven categories from the effectiveness of care to morality, to evaluate the experiences Medicare beneficiaries have with their health plan and health care system.

“That’s the philosophy and the culture that we’ve been promoting with personalized care. It takes all of the people here in the hospital to unify and look at the mission and vision of the hospital and really work towards that goal,” she said. “Those little touches mean so

much and our staff gets it. They go ahead and don’t have to wait for us [to approve] it.”

For the staff, Rollins and Nelson implemented free lunches every Tuesday and Thursday, a small investment they said would contribute to team building within departments. By the eight month of operation, every single staff member, from the housekeeping staff to managers, received salary adjustments.

Rollins wanted the housekeeping and maintenance staffers to receive their raises first before managers did.

“We brought in the housekeeping department, told them they

Nanay Fedelina Lugasan (3rd from right), a Filipina human trafficking victim, was reunited with her family after 65 years. During a celebration at Pilipino Workers Center, she was joined by supporters, including Nelson and Rollins, who own a skilled nursing facility she lives in.

AJPress photos by Noel Ty

were receiving raises and shared how important housekeeping is because when family members come into a hospital, they may not know much about the doctors or how good the hospital is. But when they see a clean environment, the staff is friendly and the mood is upbeat, then they feel good,” Nelson narrated.

Though she holds an executive position now, Rollins isn’t above throwing herself into the action.

There will be instances when she puts on her nursing uniform and helps move beds around when they’re busy.

“What Vicki brought here to [LADMC] was a can-do spirit. It’s all about teamwork. The days of ivory towers where people are too important to do things, everything’s delegated, don’t communicate together. That was the dysfunctionality that we inherited and that we eliminated,” Nelson said. “We created a spirit of work together. We set an example that we pick up the litter and we expect our managers to do everything to work together.”

Outside of the company, Rollins dedicates time to giving back and paying it forward. After Super Typhoon Yolanda — which ravaged areas in the Visayas including her hometown — she and her family helped in Tolosa’s rebuilding efforts, including setting up a vocational and technical school and providing scholarships for students. In 2018, another unlikely, world’s collide moment came when Rollins heard about the case of Nanay Fedelina Lugasan, an 83year-old human trafficking victim who was rescued from the San Fernando Valley after six decades

LA Downtown Medical Center owners Vicki Rollins and William Nelson, who for the past two decades have owned and operated several skilled nursing and long-term care facilities in Southern California.

of abuse from a Filipino family. Lugasan, who happened to be from the same province as Rollins, was placed at one of the skilled nursing facilities in Long Beach operated

by Rollins-Nelson.

“I mean, what are the odds?

If she landed in Hollywood, for example, they would send her to a random facility,” Rollins said.

“Whereas she found a home in our facility, she has a private room and has transportation when she wants to go out. She has a normal life now. The reward in life is when you give back.”

As the nursing field continues to be dominated by Filipinos — the second largest group of California’s active registered

workforce at nearly 18% — Rollins said she vows to continue to mentor nurses, especially those who seek leadership roles at their organizations.

“They always come to me and I tell them, ‘Find your niche and find where your heart is…Don’t lose focus on why we come to work daily and that is to take care of patients,” she said.

She added, “When you lead an organization, whether it’s health care or any other type of business, you want to be on top of your game and just be fair to everybody and do the right thing. Then nothing is really complex at the end of the day. It’s the people who make things complex.”

Features

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LAS VEGAS ASIAN JOURNAL • MARch 26-ApRIL 1, 2020

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City parks to be cleaned twice a 99 Ranch Market makes public announcement day and remain open for the public A NEW cleaning protocol and social distancing protocols will allow the city’s 70 parks to remain open. The city is stepping up cleaning and disinfecting of high-touch areas in parks, including restrooms and playground equipment.

The city will dispatch 12 crews of five to 10 people with the proper protective equipment to clean and disinfect all parks two times a day, seven days a week. Visitors are asked to practice social distanc-

ing, and the public is welcome to bring their own disinfecting wipes if they plan to handle the equipment.

The city will maintain this cleaning schedule as long as crews can appropriately and adequately clean and disinfect the high-touch areas and restrooms.

Any inability of the cleaning crews to keep up proper disinfecting could result in the closure of restrooms or other facilities.

The National Recreation and

Park Association has issued a statement about the safe use of parks and open spaces during the coronavirus pandemic calling parks essential resources for health and wellness. The city of Las Vegas signed onto this statement with other municipalities yesterday.

The city will continue to update coronavirus information, including closures and cancellations, at www.lasvegasnevada.gov/coronavirus.

SHARE Village Las Vegas food pantry now open 7 days a week

SHARE Village Las Vegas extends access for emergency food assistance to those affected by COVID-19 furloughs and layoffs LAS VEGAS — In response to the overwhelming number of requests and the continued evolving coronavirus state of emergency, SHARE Village Las Vegas (formerly known as Veterans Village Las Vegas) announced today that its pantry services will expand to 7 days a week and will continue without interruption until further notice.

Located at 50 N. 21st, Las Vegas NV, 89101, individuals in need of food assistance can visit the SHARE Village Las Vegas Pantry seven days a week from 10 a.m. to noon.

“The extensive number of lay-

offs and furloughs of our gaming and hospitality industry workers has presented a much greater need than anticipated in Las Vegas,” said SHARE Village Las Vegas Founder Arnold Stalk.

“We have seen a 500% increase in food and nutrition requests in the past week. We are here to serve the Las Vegas community in any way we can. That includes services for Veteran and seniors as needed.”

SHARE Village’s food rescue program will continue without interruption as well. Its innovative food rescue program allows SHARE Village Las Vegas to collect

food rescue items utilizing its fleet of emergency food service trucks each night, including nightly pickups from participating Starbucks locations, hotel/casino partners and grocers in Las Vegas.

SHARE Village Las Vegas is the only non-profit charitable organization in Las Vegas to offer 24/7/365 emergency and crisis intervention services. For additional information regarding SHARE Village Las Vegas and its services, please visit www.sharelasvegas. org. For media inquiries, please contact Arnold Stalk, PhD, at 702624-5792 or arnoldstalk@gmail. com.

Dance is opening doors for Fil-Am...

PAGE 10 Academy of Rock Singapore and Cornerstone Music.

“I wanted something true to my style. So, when the Academy sent the song to my management, it was given to me. I was the one they immediately thought of because the song was catchy and upbeat. And I simply fell in love with it,” said Ken, who came up with the choreography for the song.

Aside from his stint in the aforementioned Derulo video, he has also taken the stage at the Radio Disney Music Awards, and appeared in various television shows. He likewise conducts dancing workshops around the world; his

most recent one was at Boston University. “I love sharing my passion with young people,” he said.

Upon relocating in Manila, Ken joined the 2018 reality talent search “World of Dance Philippines,” where he topped the junior division and placed third overall. “The show has helped me put my name in the mainstream,” he said. One of the contest’s judges was Billy, to whom Ken has gotten close with ever since.

“I want to ask him to collaborate with me on a song.

Hopefully, something materializes because I look up to him as someone who has made it in the fields of music and dance. That

would be something great,” Ken said. “I also hope I can come up with an EP soon.”

One of his goals is to become a well-rounded performer. And so, Ken is also determined to learn other aspects of music and the business. “I don’t want to have limitations. Aside from honing my singing and acting, I would also love to be able to play an instrument or compose my own songs someday,” he said.

Does he see himself eventually getting into acting and doing teleseryes? “Why close doors when you have the opportunity? If there’s one, I will grab it and enjoy the moment,” he said.

99 RANCH Market, via a public announcement signed by CEO Alice Chen, recently shared a public announcement on how the company and its stores are addressing shoppers’ needs during the coronavirus crisis.

Here’s the announcement in full: To our valued customers and the 99 Ranch Market community: As we continue to monitor the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) situation very closely, we wanted to share the actions that 99 Ranch Market is taking to better serve customers, employees and community.

Gratitude for our dedicated employees As we have been given the social responsibility to keep our stores open and provide food for our communities, our loyal employees have risen up and met the challenge. In order to meet unprecedented demand, our employees have dedicated their days and nights to keep our stores stocked so our customers have food to buy.

In recognition of the incredible contributions of our frontline store employees, for 4 weeks starting March 15, 2020, we have allocated a special budget to enact a temporary raise of $2/hour for all our hourly store employees. We truly appreciate our employees’ teamwork and loyal service during this challenging time.

The health and safety of our customers, employees remain our top priority We take great pride in maintaining the highest standards of cleanlinees, hygiene and safety.

In response to the Coronavirus, 99 Ranch Market has taken additional measures developed in consultation with global and local public health authorities (including the WHO and CDC) to make our cleaning protocols even more rigorous and to ensure the safety

of our customers and employees, including: • Increased frequency of cleaning high-traffic areas (including shelves, product displays, cashier stations and restrooms) and have continued the use of hospital-grade disinfectants.

• Increased deep cleanings of our stores and distribution centers.

• Increased accessibility of antibacterial hand sanitizers for customers and employees.

• Providing disposable face masks and gloves to our store employees.

• As a precautionary measure, we have suspended all food samplings and demonstrations and closed all of our dine-in areas (Take-out orders are still available).

• Ensuring that all of our employees stay home if they are feeling unwell.

• Suspending employee travel internationally and all other nonessential travels.

This weekend, 99 Ranch Market has also begun: • Installing plexiglass shields at every cashier check-out aisle.

• Limiting the number of customers in the stores to approximately 50% capacity.

•Implementing social distancing both within the stores and in any lines that may form outside the store by requiring that all persons keep within at least 6 feet of one another whenever possible.

• Reducing business hours to allow stores to clean and restock to better service the community.

Meeting the needs of our most vulnerable communities All of our stores have reserved the first hour of business on weekdays to accommodate the elderly 60+, expectant mothers, persons with disabilities, and/or persons with compromised immune systems. We ask that our customers respect these hours for those who

are most at risk in our communities.

Together we will fight, support one another 99 Ranch Market, Cravings by 99 Ranch Market and our partners offer our deepest sympathy to those who have been affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. We are prepared to navigate these challenging circumstances with everyone’s safety in mind.

While our stores remain open for business, we recognize that you may choose to shop from home.

IN an effort to provide you with the highest customer service, we are offering the following alternatives should you choose to shop from home: • Shop online at 99ranch.com to get dry groceries delivered to your home.

• Shipt – a third-party grocery delivery service, offers same-day delivery to your home. Available nationwide.

• Coming soon: in-store pick up and local delivery via 99ranch.com will be available in 15 stores across regions: Northern California – Milpitas and Sacramento; Southern California – Anaheim, Chino Hills, Corona, Irvine-Culver, Monterey Park and Van Nuys; Texas – Austin and Houston; Washington State – Edmonds; Maryland – Gaithersburg; Massachusetts – Quincy; New Jersey – Edison; Oregon – Beaverton.

We firmly believe that it is our responsibility to prioritize the health and well-being of our employees and customers. In an effort to protect our customers and employees, and slow the transmission of the COVID-19 virus, we vow to play a constructive role by supporting local and government health officials.

Thank you for being a loyal 99 Ranch Market customer. We look forward to continuing to serve you.

(Advertising Supplement)

COVID-19 also kills the young

PAGE 9 nation devastated by this killer virus, must independently conduct a study on China’s health system and all issues and questions (the delay in warning, the lack of transparency. the mysterious death of the young and healthy whistleblower physician), and all other matters surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, which has so far infected more than half

a million and killed more than 20,000 people, devastated businesses and national economies in almost 200 countries, and painfully disrupted billions of families and lives around the globe.

A preventable cataclysmic horror like this should never be allowed by the international community to ever happen again. *** Philip S. Chua, MD, FACS, FPCS, Cardiac

Surgeon Emeritus in Northwest Indiana and chairman of cardiac surgery from 1997 to 2010 at Cebu Doctors University Hospital, where he holds the title of Physician Emeritus in Surgery, is based in Las Vegas, Nevada. He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, the Philippine College of Surgeons, and the Denton A. Cooley Cardiovascular Surgical Society. He is the chairman of the Filipino United Network – USA, a 501(c)(3) humanitarian foundation in the United States. Email: scalpelpen@ gmail.com

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March 26-april 1, 2020 • laS VEGaS aSiaN JOUrNal

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