COVID reached its social as distinguished from its medical end in the Philippines last week. As Mr. Sy used to tell me — overdue. I previously quoted the New York Times article on how pandemics end and it distinguished between the medical and social end. I will not repeat myself, so please look up the New York Times article or my prior one on the distinction between the medical and social end of a pandemic. In line with other counties, I think we saw the social end come to the Philippines last week. The variation is just degree and whether you are a leader, follower or laggard in exiting.
The Endemic Caravan has gotten to a critical level and now, China plus Hong Kong and Macau are the only zero- Covid areas left. I can see why it stays that way, but it does place Hong Kong due to its regional financial and trade center status in a very precarious situation. Many tolerated the restrictions in Hong Kong when most countries were subject to analogous ones. Being an outlier will be hard to manage.
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