Pandemic vs. Epidemic

What is a pandemic? How is it different from epidemic? With all the news about a possible swine flu pandemic, I am sure all of you want to know. Martin F. Downs of WebMD explains.

According to the feature, pandemic is the sixth most frequently looked-up word at Merriam-Webster's online dictionary this year. It is defined there as "occuring over a wide geographic area and affecting an exceptionally high proportion of the population".

Is it the same with an epidemic? It is not. It seems an epidemic is determined by a certain percentage of deaths above what is considered normal for a period. That percentage is called the "epidemic threshold".

On the other hand, a pandemic is characterized by a new strain that has not infected people before, it is on a global scale, and it is unusually deadly. Apparently, this is now a very real possibility with swine flu.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has developed a system of identifying where we stand with regards to pandemic flu. The system has six phases:

• Phase 1 -- No new influenza virus has been found in people or animals.
• Phase 2 -- New virus has appeared in animals, but no human cases.
• Phase 3 -- A new strain of animal influenza virus infects humans, but there have not been human-to-human infections.
• Phase 4 -- The new virus passes from person to person, but transmission is limited and confined to a certain location.
• Phase 5 -- There is frequent transmission of the virus between people in a particular place, but it hasn't spread to the rest of the world.
• Phase 6 -- Pandemic. The virus is widespread worldwide.

As of this posting, it has been reported that we are now at Phase 4.

Trying TriNoma

My wife and our two kids had our first look at Triangle North of Manila (TriNoma), that new 3.5 billion mall by Ayala Corporation which soft-opened only last May 16, 2007. It is located at the corner of EDSA and North Avenue, just across SM City.

Although the mall obviously is far from being finished, it already looks huge at least from the outside, as it seems to occupy that area from EDSA to that part fronting Mindanao Avenue. This Wikipedia entry says its going to occupy 20 hectares and will offer 195,000 gross leasable area, clearly a direct challenge to SM City and the Block. It will also have an 8,000 slot parking lot.

What seems to differentiate TriNoma with SM City and the Block, at least for now, is that it has a some waterworks up front, meaning fountains, and a park on their top floors. Going there is quite a departure from SM malls' "block" image. The mall also promises to improve rail travel experience in the Philippines as it will be directly connected to the North Avenue station of the MRT. Perhaps we are really learning a thing or two from Hongkong.

But for now, comfort and convenience is clearly not yet at the optimum. The forward area, right near the entrance was quite hot. That park upstairs, was dark and hot too. There were also no observable floor maps that we still had to ask the guard where Jollibee and Mcdonalds were. My wife also had to walk a long way to go to a comfort room. I also know of an incident wherein some of the early mall customers suffered minor injuries due to a freak accident in the mall.

Still, am quite hopeful that TriNoma will give us a nice mall experience in a year or so. My kids did love the rides at the mall's Timezone, said to be the flagship and going to be the largest in the Philippines. I am also happy that Landmark will soon be closer to home. I always felt that their department store offered you real good buys. One big reason why I await the formal opening of TriNoma. Until then.

Maybe next time

I bet, the main reason why we Filipinos find Pacquiao's victories in boxing exciting is because, when everything is on the line, he is able to do what needs to be done in the grandest of ways. And he has done that several times already. It is so unlike our attempts at getting that ever elusive gold in the Olympics, or our attempts at regaining basketball glory in Asia.

Indeed, there is joy in being able to do things in the best of ways. And there is great frustration when, even though we all want not to, we mess up. I have a feeling that pretty much describes our frustration with our elections. A lot of us want it clean, honest, peaceful, and orderly. We all want it to be conducted in the most efficient way. But alas, over and over we see the opposite.

Every election day, we wake up to news report detailing the woes of teachers in getting election paraphernalia. And when we go to our polling places, we have to go through this exercise of surviving the chaos at the school entrance just to know what is your precinct and where is it located. There is no shortage of people who couldn't find their names.

At the precinct, we have to again look at another list to know your number. Chances are the list is not in alphabetical order. Then we get our ballot and get ready to vote behind a folder masquerading as a mini-booth. Then you drop your vote in the ballot box and hope that come night time when teachers start counting, the school's power fuses will not overload and plunge everyone into total darkness. With ballots all in the open.

We await the results and the declaration of the winners weeks, maybe a month, after. Then, we hope that in the next election, things will be better. There is a big chance it will not be. But we will still vote. Just like we did today. See the various tallies at Inquirer.net and abs-cbn.news.com.

Call for the Spartan in us

Excerpts from the speech of Tony Meloto, the visionary and driving force behind the Gawad Kalinga movement, during the 2007 Commencement Exercises of the Ateneo de Davao where he was given Doctorate of Humanities, Honoris Causa.

"The Filipino spirit today is rising wherever he is in the world. He is starting to discover that he has the power to liberate himself from being a slave of the past... that he can remove the label stuck to his soul as a second class people from a third world country... that he can correct the scandal of history of being the most corrupt in Asia despite being the only Christian nation, until East Timor, in the region. In the right setting the Filipino has proven that he can be law- abiding, hardworking, honest and excellent."

-----

"We have compromised our values and tolerated corruption. We have lowered our standard and tolerated poverty. We have sacrificed the truth for hypocrisy. We have chosen convenience for vision, popularity for leadership...and have chosen despair over hope."

"Do we fight or do we run? Is there a King Leonides among you who will fight for honor and freedom? Are there 300 Spartans among you who will confront our enemies with extraordinary courage and love? Can you be the army who will lead our people to victory following the path of peace? Are you the generation of patriots who can shout to the world that no Filipino will remain poor because you will not allow it; that no Filipino will remain a squatter because you will not allow it; that no politician will remain corrupt because you will not allow it?"

"If you are, then join us in Gawad Kalinga. Together, we can build a great nation, first world in the eyes of God and respected by other great nations."