When the global pandemic reached Hong Kong, the once busy streets in Chater Road became quiet. Domestic workers were not allowed to go out and were forced to work longer hours, including Sundays, as their employers were working at home. Others had their contracts arbitrarily terminated.
“It is ironic because they said they will make health care a priority and that this is the leading agenda of this administration. But until now, there is still no portfolio, no health secretary. That remains a big vacuum."
The Filipino nurses continue to call for the release of the remaining allowances, salary hikes for health workers, and the priority of the health sector under Marcos Jr.'s administration. This was after their initial victory of the promised COVID-19 health allowances approved by the Department of Budget and Management.
With a stricter lockdown set to begin tomorrow, Bulatlat is reposting our previous reports on how the gov't cannot rely solely on lockdown to curb the spread of the more transmissible, more deadly Delta Variant of COVID-19.
...[t]he task of shaping the “new normal” should come from the actions of the people; it should be the outcome of our political organizing. We should claim the narrative of the “new normal” in order to reclaim our right to enjoy a better future.
How can we go on duty if we, workers, could hardly breathe?
Sa isang makabuluhang pag-aaral sa kasaysayan ng mga pandemya, sinabi ng historyador na si William H. McNeill sa Plagues and Peoples (1976) na makabuluhan ang papel na ginagampanan ng pagkalat ng mga nakahahawang sakit sa kinahinatnan ng mga kalagayang panlipunan....
The Alliance of Health Workers said health workers are human beings who need enough rest when they are tired and sick.
Well thought-out, pro-active policies based on informed and rigorous analysis could have helped the country navigate the treacherous waters of the pandemic from its very onset in 2020. The need for them was especially evident during the last quarter of 2021, as well as at the present time. But they are precisely what were and are still missing in the far from strategic and purely reactive government response to the pandemic.
“Almost all of the expenses were taken from our savings. Aside from this, it is taking a constant toll on our mental wellbeing especially since we have to think about our work and studies during the [supposed] recovery period.”
“We need to strengthen our public health system. We can do this through the implementation of a free, comprehensive, and progressive public health system in the country.”
The Department of Education is being urged to implement an academic health break for both teachers and students in areas where there is a surge in COVID-19 cases.
The campaign asserting their rights and welfare won for them some of their much-deserved benefits, and led to the expansion and consolidation of their unions and organizations.
“Prohibiting access to basic services such as public transportation and threats of possible arrests and detention of unvaccinated individuals if they go out of their homes are certainly highly questionable policies that violate their rights.”
“If we are to learn from the COVID pandemic, we must treat it as an opportunity to reframe public health and governance towards recognizing and promoting human rights.”
The resolution states that unvaccinated workers will not be terminated just because of their lack of immunization but they will be required to undertake regular RT-PCR testing at their own expense. It states further that all public transportation personnel will be obliged to get vaccinated.
Three out of four students believe that they are not obtaining necessary skills under distance learning.
Even as he anticipated the difficulties he would face due to distance learning, a student leader still took it upon himself to continue working amid the pandemic and support his family in these uncertain times.
The reverting to the strictest lockdown did not offer relief to the overburdened health workers as Covid-19 cases continued to climb, following pronouncements from the health department that there is already a community transmission of the Delta variant, a variant of concern per the WHO that has brought nightmares to the public health care of other countries hit by it.
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