Thoughts on COVID19, its effects in the Philippines and what we can do moving forward
Few days ago, I had said that I wouldn’t make any COVID19-related comments. Some of my followers are asking my ideas and they are wondering why I am quiet about it. Let me try to explain why I kept silent, why I am talking now and what I am thinking about it.
As a start, there is so much misinformation, fake news, and conspiracy theories on social media nowadays. And unfortunately, I don’t think they help the current situation. It is like there are 100 million Doctors making comments about it.
As many of you know I am a businessman in the Technology field and my education is food engineering. Even though I had 6 terms of microbiology lessons and had extensive working experiences with med-tech startups and several years of experience in the medical field, I am not a doctor to make any comments or talk about the COVID19 outbreak. I think even the experts do not have enough research to really define the situation yet. Since the virus had just been isolated few days ago, I assume we couldn’t identify the real case yet. I was just trying to avoid the panic and anxiety. That’s why I was quiet.
And, I am talking now, because I think sharing my humble ideas can help us to see the real scenario. Unfortunately, some people do not understand how serious the situation is.
Understanding the scope of Coronavirus
To understand the current situation, I must say that this is not a mad cow disease neither a bird flu outbreak from 2005 nor swine flu from 2009 or SARS, MERS outbreak. The situation is much more serious given the global reach of the epidemic.
In terms of the coverage and panic it has caused, the situation with COVID19 can be likened to that of the SPANISH FLU OUTBREAK. On a brighter note, the coronavirus has not claimed the number of lives as the Spanish Flu, which caused the death of over 50 Million people in 1918… at least not YET! But if we will not strictly obey the advice of the government, it can happen.
Government protocols on Coronavirus containment
As many of you know, I love the Philippines and Filipinos. And with my close friends and colleagues, I have shared that contrary to idea that we are a communal society, I feel like the Philippines is an individualistic society. Basic example: we are very clean with ourselves, taking showers twice a day, always keeping our houses clean and tidy, but we do not care that much about cleaning our surroundings.
Now is a time for us to be a real society. When you are going out or not obeying the advice of government on the Luzon-wide quarantine, you are not risking your life, you are risking the lives of your loved ones and other people in this society.
Importance of national health data and artificial intelligence in the healthcare sector
Obviously about curfew or social distancing, I am hearing that in some countries there is a government app, which evaluates online permission requests to go out and give a code. On the system when you match the code, the route, the time and the person, basically you can monitor all the activities and possible contacts of everyone, and you can limit the contact. I hope our government will consider about this system ASAP!
Unfortunately, in the last 3 years on all the opportunities, LEADEANA executives were explaining the importance of National Health Data, Health Data independence and an AI-supported Outbreak Warning Alert System. If that structure was built before the outbreak, we would have a REAL great advantage to manage the current situation. But past is past. Let’s discuss what we can do now and what will happen in the future.
What can we do post COVID19
I don’t know what we will lose in this war. Yes, I call it a war, because it is! I hope that we will not lose the bonds between the different levels of the society. And I hope that we will win this war because of the hard work of all levels of medical professionals and public servants.
Already our economy (like all the economies in the world) is shaken. And according to the current numbers I have gotten this afternoon, we are not that much affected yet. However, when things will be better, we will have another battle. It will be the economic battle. We will need to work harder; we will need to be creative and we will need to use DATA and Technology in the smartest way. We are going to be here to help everyone, as we were yesterday and as we are now!
NEXT TOPICS:
How we aim to be here to help everyone, as we were yesterday and as we are now!
We’re going to provide the most affordable way to accumulate, analyze and process data.
We’re going to teach ordinary people:
- What is data
- How to analyze data
- How to process data How to use tech and data as an advantage