Coronavirus news Indonesia

Never had any known illness from vaccines, same here to many to mention over the years working middle east, asia and west africa ( yellow fever for life now if your 10 years boost is due) had the dreaded ones from 1st gulf war and that included against? Anthrax, plauge etc, these i will add given to us illegally (didnt know at the time) that said many not so fortunate, quite happy to wait sometime down the line especially for my kids sake, at the end of the day its choice but mine and mrs minds are similar, i wont be at the front of the line waiting

,

Fred wrote:

I've noticed a couple of sensationalist hack bits of journalism regarding the Indonesian government and their action, or lack of it. These pretty poor pieces generally knock the government or given ministers, but fail to mention facts that bring their version of the truth into question.

https://coconuts.co/jakarta/news/indone … -putranto/

This less than impressive (in my eyes) piece is about a reporter doing an  empty chair' interview with Health Minister Terawan Agus Putranto, stating she wasn't able to arrange an appointment for an interview with him.
The piece went on to say: "he may well go down in history as a joke of a health official"
Indonesia, a country with many times the population of the US and other countries (except India) with far greater Covid19 problems, has fewer deaths than the list of nations above it in death rates.
Perhaps the reporter may well go down in history as a joke of a hack", and maybe the health minister is too busy saving Indonesians' lives to bother with some sensationalist TV show.

We're running at number 11 in known covid deaths at the moment, but second as far as population size goes, so I suspect the health ministry aren't doing too badly, more so when you see the US and Brazil, countries with 4/5 Indonesia's population, have suffered up to 20 times the number of deaths we've had here.
The other side of this is the generally sensible way the Indonesian people are dealing with virus related rules, most wearing masks and most avoiding crowded places - pretty much as the health minister did when he avoided a TV studio interview with the bare faced journalist.
Still, perhaps journalists are resistant to the disease - or maybe she wanted to keep her pretty face on camera rather than do her bit by encouraging mask use.

Readers, just follow the rules and generally be sensible, then your chances of contracting this disease with be reduced. What you shouldn't do is follow the lead of some hacks, knocking the government but offering nothing useful by way of suggestions, and 'forgeting' to mention how well Indonesia is doing in this exceptionally difficult time when compared to so many other countries.

Is the government making mistakes? Of course they are, but making errors in an impossible situation has to be accepted as they're still doing far better than most western nations and, unlike some notable politicians with especially stupid hair styles, they aren't giving new, contradictory rules out every week.

Given the impossibility of the task and the constantly changing dynamics, I think the Indonesian government have done a pretty good job.

I dont have the knowledge to judge if the governement have done a pretty good job or not, for sure when the spreed grow up instead than decrease, it mean that something is going wrong.
Also, I think that its not possible to compare the covid situation between USA (that has more inhabitans than Indonesia), other Countries and Indonesia basing only on the number of population, because must consider the density of the population, so if its true that Indonesia is the 4th most populous Country, its also true that the population is distribuited in more than 17.000 islands, so the density is far less than Countries with minor population. Indeed, in Indonesia the largest part of infected is concentrated in the areas with a larger density, as Jakarta and Java in general, Kalimantan, Sumantera, Sulawesi and now also Bali, while in tha other Islands with less dendisity,  there are very few cases or even zero.

,

We received some bad news last night from one of my wife's friends.

The friend's mother who is in her early sixties has tested positive for Covid-19 in Jakarta. She never goes out, so one of her family members got infected and brought it home. There are seven family members living in the home in and they all need to be tested. Cost for the three tests at Rp1.5 million per test is Rp4.5 million per person x 7 persons means she has to pay more than Rp30 million. She decided to pay everything herself because if she wants the free testing it means waiting longer which she feels is not an option. The mother will be admitted to hospital first and hopefully that will be at no charge, although she might have to pay for that too at Rp2 million per night for a private room. She will find out soon. The mother has diabetes.

The initial symptoms that the mother had were vomiting and a lost sense of taste. Her brother has also lost his sense of taste and has diarrhea so is probably also infected.

In the meantime, it seems people here in Bandung are still eating out in restaurants and bakeries and are less and less keeping a distance in queues. Crowded minimarts are bad too as customers often do not wear masks and they also do not keep their distance in the queues.

Shill88 wrote:

We received some bad news last night from one of my wife's friends.

The friend's mother who is in her early sixties has tested positive for Covid-19 in Jakarta. She never goes out, so one of her family members got infected and brought it home. There are seven family members living in the home in and they all need to be tested. Cost for the three tests at Rp1.5 million per test is Rp4.5 million per person x 7 persons means she has to pay more than Rp30 million. She decided to pay everything herself because if she wants the free testing it means waiting longer which she feels is not an option. The mother will be admitted to hospital first and hopefully that will be at no charge, although she might have to pay for that too at Rp2 million per night for a private room. She will find out soon. The mother has diabetes.

The initial symptoms that the mother had were vomiting and a lost sense of taste. Her brother has also lost his sense of taste and has diarrhea so is probably also infected.

In the meantime, it seems people here in Bandung are still eating out in restaurants and bakeries and are less and less keeping a distance in queues. Crowded minimarts are bad too as customers often do not wear masks and they also do not keep their distance in the queues.

Finally, since the mother is already hospitalized, the other family members can get a first swab test for a total of Rp5 million. Expensive but still OK.

Sad to say that already four members of their family have tested positive to Covid-19. What they have said is that trying to get into one of the government hospitals with free Covid19 treatment is quite exhausting as it means getting the three signatures from the local Chairman and others which can be difficult when those people are not always at home.

What I have understood from our friend is that firstly trying to get the free swab test can take time. Getting into the government hospital for free treatment can be exhausting just trying to get the required signatures. And if you are unwilling to wait for the free testing and hospitalization, then the cost can be quite expensive.

As a result, we have decided to be more stringent on mask wearing, will only visit the supermarket when it opens at 7am, and will not visit the minimarts so often since this is where people commonly do not wear masks and where they don't respect social distancing.

Latest news on the above, the friend was told to wait at home for ambulances to come and pick them up. At least six of them were confirmed with covid and the seventh was waiting news from her swab test. They waited a day for the ambulances but they didn't come, so since her brother had fallen unconscious a couple of times she worried that he would pass away before help came, they drove around Jakarta to try to find a hospital that would accept them, both private and government. They visited 3 hospitals and all were full. So they got an IV drip for her brother at an A&E and returned home to wait. Apparently they received a call last night that ambulances were coming to pick them up.

Shill88 wrote:

Latest news on the above, the friend was told to wait at home for ambulances to come and pick them up. At least six of them were confirmed with covid and the seventh was waiting news from her swab test. They waited a day for the ambulances but they didn't come, so since her brother had fallen unconscious a couple of times she worried that he would pass away before help came, they drove around Jakarta to try to find a hospital that would accept them, both private and government. They visited 3 hospitals and all were full. So they got an IV drip for her brother at an A&E and returned home to wait. Apparently they received a call last night that ambulances were coming to pick them up.

The ambulances never came on Saturday night. Instead, they were told to stay at home until Monday. The local government office strongly forbid them to leave home. However, as the brother's condition had deteriorated further, this morning they again set out and this time managed to find a private hospital that agreed to take him. The others who are still only suffering vomiting, diarrhea, high fever, coughing and loss of smell and taste will wait for the ambulances on Monday.

My thoughts are with the thousands of less fortunate and people who may be seriously ill with Covid19  but who cannot afford to go to a private hospital and are forced to wait 3 or 4 days until an ambulance will bring them to a government hospital.

Another update on a friend who with her family members tested positive for Covid. Sunday night they managed to find a private hospital willing to accept the brother. His condition had further deteriorated and the Covid had spread to his lungs. In order for the hospital to treat him the family needed to pay Rp10 million for Convalescent Plasma Treatment. However, his condition is critical now and it may be too late.

For the others, with no clear time of when ambulances might bring them to a government hospital, they again set out to find a private hospital that might accept the four of them. Their condition is worse than on Sunday, numbness in the fingers as well as all the symptoms they were experiencing over the weekend. Now they are currently in a private hospital waiting for the result of CT scans. If the scans show the Covid to be more serious then they will be admitted, if not, they will not be admitted.

It seems that this family are facing many difficulties just trying to get treated. They have been waiting for ambulances to pick them up since Friday evening and bring them to a government hospital but so far they keep being told to wait or that the ambulances were cancelled. This might just be the situation in Jakarta where there are so many Covid cases. They are learning that whether they have private insurance or BPJS that there are costs that are not covered. And they have also found that if they sit back and follow the required procedure then it may be too late which is why they are being forced to take things into their own hands no matter the financial cost.