I do not know when the decision was made by the Multi Ministry Task Force, with the support of the govt to treat the pandemic as endemic and to live with the virus like the flu. This decision could be made much earlier at a time when laxity in letting people from high risk countries to come in was like nobody's business. This was likely the time when the highly infectious Delta variant came in and seeded in the community. Without a national regime to test the people, no one is sure how widespread is the virus in the community, and the consequence is what we are seeing now, more than a thousand infections daily and growing ie the virus was spreading while no one was looking or conducting big scale community testing. No testing means low number of cases detected, giving a false sense of security a la Donald Trump's way of thinking or unthinking.
The decision to live with the virus could be made after knowing that going for zero infection was no longer possible and thus it became a no choice solution. The spread in the community already gone out of control and what else could be done except to live with it. The recent small number of imported cases is a happening that is too late and would not change anything as the Delta variant is already everywhere.
To make the decision to live with the virus is indeed a tough decision, or a no choice decision. And this decision means having to experience more cases and more deaths. Before this decision was made, there must be expert and scientific data to support it. It could be based on gut feel or some unsubstantiated opinion. The MMTF must know and to expect the numbers to go up. There is no point in panicking now. Panicking now is a sign of poor appreciation of this outcome, or unable to take the heat. Or it is an awkward admission that the decision was made from uninformed data and recommendation.
Once such a stand was taken, everyone must behave like a man. You took a tough decision, you have to face it squarely like a man, not wobbling in the knees and regretting this situation. No way to rewind the clock. It is best to come straight and tell the people that this is what it should be. Let's stay united to face the outcome, ie more widespread of infection and....more deaths.
If still fumbling with the outcome, fearing that it would be a Little India version of what had happened in India, it might be a little too late. However, it is still possible to have an island wide lock down and go for zero case solution. This would be a tougher solution as it means a no nonsense termination of all activities and movement of people within the island, and in and out of the island, to try to stop the spread, island wide testing to arrest the spread with no one exempted from the test. The economy would be severely hit for sure.
Still dilly dallying, or committed to live with the virus? Yes? No? Be strong, once the decision is made, live with it, live with all the pains and deaths and all the criticism and unhappiness from the affected people. And hope that it would turn out fine whichever way taken. If it doesn't turn out well, prepare the backside to be goreng. It is your decision, no one is forcing you to make this tough decision. You are paid millions exactly to make tough decisions and if you failed, face the music, and losing your million dollar pay. Take responsibility. You cannot wriggle out from this responsibility.
Pray that your decision is the right one and ends well.
On hindsight we were doing quite well until someone made this gungho decision to live with the virus like the crazy and clueless Americans. The Americans messed it up real bad. Why did we choose to follow the stupid and irresponsible Americans and ended up in this pathetic state of affair? At least the NZ and Australia have a little cow sense not to blindly follow their stupid masters and stick to the zero case solution, and willing to lock down parts of their country if needed be. They are trying very hard and have yet to lose control of the situation.
This virus would make and break countries, and also individual politicians that mishandled it.
PS. 1939 yesterday. When would it hit 5,000? Hitting 2,000 is a matter of tomorrow or the next few days. While rushing recklessly to open up, it might have the opposite effect if the infection exploded and even if the legs were open wide wide, no one would dare to come. Hope Singapore would not become a lepers' colony and be avoided by the rest of the world.
14 comments:
Singapore lacks investigative journalists to dig out facts of possible vested interests, conflict of interests that goes into decision-making.
For Investigative Journalism to work, there must be avenues to get the information and freedom to express the findings and sources to tell the people interested to know. Here in Red Dot, people lost their pants for saying things unpalatable to the ears of the ruling elites. Even quoting from other sources lands one in hot soup.
The truth hurts and the truth must never be allowed to hurt some people. And yes, who decides what is the truth and what is not? Make a guess!
I am afraid Virgo is right on this.
There is a Chinese saying, the lepers would not be afraid of rotting. So, in a lepers colony, you can expect all the lepers to come, happily and voluntarily. They have nothing to lose.
So all those from high risk countries would be raining down on this island.
Singapore's infection is going up like a rocket. In terms of infection, we are already at India's level during the infection tsunami earlier this year, if we translate the 1,939 infections reported yesterday and based it on India's more than 1.3 billion population. But no need for hysteria right?
Hell Minister will probably say they did not expect the virus to attack us so early and so fast and did not wait for us to get everything ready. He must now rope in the Defence Minister to call a meeting with the virus to negotiate for a temporary ceasefire. It may work!
Remember the early days when we were being idolised for keeping the virus in control and countries heaping accolades on how well Singapore is dealing with the infections? Then infections in the dormitories hit us like a ton of bricks and we had to resort to lockdowns and circuit breakers to keep up sanity?
We are just itching to go backwards and do another circuit breaking exercise. God help us!
Yes! God help us!
Yes! God help us!
The masses are crying!
The masses are crying!
NOW! NOW! NOW!
Sori to say that God Only Helps Those Who Help Themselves. So please to pre emp that Delta variants coming fast n furious, help yourself by taking ownself safety measures like wearing mask, practice hygiene, social distancing & socialize less, stay home as much as possible, don't o to higher risks cluster area. May the Lord Ultimate Supreme One from the Upper or Allah or God or Buddha blesses us to Stay Safe & Stay Healthy.
Why S’pore cannot be held hostage by those who refuse to get vaccinated
"The facts are indisputable — half of ICU cases and three-quarters of recently recorded deaths occurred among the unvaccinated. You may think that the differences are, therefore, not so huge – until you consider that the unvaccinated are only six per cent of the total population eligible for vaccination (with the rest being kids that are the least affected by the disease).
Since these six per cent are responsible for half of all severe cases and about 75 per cent of deaths, it means that refusing to get the jab makes you around 10 to 12 times more likely to suffer and/or die, what is consistent with findings elsewhere in the world (a recent study in the US established the unvaccinated are 11 times more likely to die from COVID; meanwhile data from Israel shows that unvaccinated 60+ year olds are 15 times more likely to leave the hospital in a casket rather than on their two feet)."
....
"If it was only about the unvaccinated paying the price for their ignorance, I would be quite indifferent about them having to pay it. They knew the risks, so they have to bear the consequences. But the problem is that a society of millions is often only as strong as its weakest links."
For people who continue to call for lockdown and accuse the government of being interested only in economy and GDP dollars, please understand that many people and businesses are hurt by it.
The economy means your jobs.
A contractor saw 5 subcontractors quit on a residential project he is building in Sengkang after they failed to get their existing contracts repriced to cope with skyrocketing labour and raw material costs.
'Things just went south': Construction firms under pressure as pandemic bites deep
Go and ask the Coronavirus to understand you and your habitual get-rich-quick contractors, who are mostly Pappies' cronies and parasites.
Coronavirus' reply:
No problem. My friends and I fully understand you. We will oblige you. All we need is to infect you, your workers, your parents and your families. Some will die, while others may not. We also understand that you hope the ones who die are not you but other people. Otherwise, how to spend all the money you have been making but refuse to lose some?
While it can be argued that those in ICU are disproportionately represented by the unvaccinated, which stands at only about 20% of the population but representing 48% of those in ICU. That is one way of looking at the statistics. Taking out the children, the unvaccinated percentage is even lower at just 6%.
However, isn't it the case that those fully vaccinated are not supposed to suffer serious complications, and should not be so markedly represented at 51% pf those in ICU, which should be largely the enclave of the unvaccinated? In other words, 80% of those in ICU should be represented by those unvaccinated and just 20% be attributed to those fully vaccinated. Why are the ICU patient numbers represented by 51% fully vaccinated and 49% unvaccinated. It does not tally with the narrative that full vaccination prevents serious complications.
Statistics can be interpreted in different ways. It is just like calling a glass either half full, or half empty. Both can be right, but the difference is for what purpose the statistics are interpreted and by who.
Who does not know that people who call for lockdown are also those who may lose their jobs. But to say that business must be the priority at all cost without regard for human lives, that is something like economic genocide.
"For people who continue to call for lockdown and accuse the government of being interested only in economy and GDP dollars, please understand that many people and businesses are hurt by it.
The economy means your jobs.
A contractor saw 5 subcontractors quit on a residential project he is building in Sengkang after they failed to get their existing contracts repriced to cope with skyrocketing labour and raw material costs.
'Things just went south': Construction firms under pressure as pandemic bites deep"
Put it this way, it has already come to a point whereby the chance of getting the virus is 50/50, if you don't get it today, you get it tomorrow. Imagine your staff getting the virus and has 10 days quarantine so frequently. May I ask you , is it any difference to lockdown ?
I can tell honestly it is really that bad now because people who get the virus no longer know how they get it because the government conceal this information, and you just take a look at the number of people going to the clinic for PCR test, and it will shock you. Don't believe in the numbers the government give you, just look at your nearest clinic going for the test. It is totally out of control now. Any moment you step out, you will get high chance of getting it, so just make sure you don't get test, otherwise good luck.
Singapore preparing to deal with ‘5,000 new Covid-19 cases a day or maybe more’: Lawrence Wong
- Finance Minister Lawrence Wong said just 0.2 per cent of infected cases will need ICU treatment, but a much larger 10 per cent of them will need hospital beds as they are vulnerable
- Hence, Singapore is bolstering its hospital capacity to cope with a possible surge to more than 5,000 daily cases
- Once capacity is ramped up, cases will remain high as that is what it means to live with Covid-19, said Mr Wong
- Acknowledging people’s frustrations at the latest measures, he said the Government had “no choice” as the healthcare system is under strain
SINGAPORE — The Government is ramping up resources in order to prepare for the possibility of more than 5,000 new Covid-19 infections a day, of which about 10 per cent, or 500 people, may need to be warded for at least a week, Finance Minister Lawrence Wong said on Monday (Sept 27).
“We want to be able to deal with a scenario where cases surge up to 5,000 new cases a day or maybe more,” said Mr Wong, the co-chair of the ministerial task force on Covid-19, during an interview with Bloomberg Television.
Mr Wong was responding to a question by anchor Haslinda Amin, who had queried him about what is needed for Singapore’s economic reopening to continue.
Explaining how the task force arrived at this parameter, Mr Wong said that although 0.2 per cent of Covid-19 positive cases require treatment in intensive care units (ICUs), around 50 times that number of infected cases require close monitoring in the hospital as they could be older, have serious symptoms or comorbidities.
Said Mr Wong: “To provide timely care for the persons who need ICU treatment, the doctors need to admit about 10 per cent of infected persons to our hospitals because these are the ones that the doctors would triage and identify as the more vulnerable persons.”
On Sunday, Singapore recorded 1,939 new Covid-19 cases, including five imported cases, the highest of the pandemic so far.
If Singapore reaches 5,000 cases daily, that would mean hospitals would need to take in 500 people who would need stays of at least a week, said Mr Wong.
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