Covid19 - Foreign workers clusters blossoming and spreading

There were 10 more cases at the S11 Dormitory @ Punggol, which now has a total of 98 confirmed cases.

At the Westlite Toh Guan dormitory, five additional cases were found to be linked to this cluster. There are a total of 34 confirmed cases here now.

Four additional cases were linked to the cluster at Toh Guan Dormitory, which has a total of 18 confirmed cases now. The dormitory is a newly declared isolation area.

The Sungei Tengah Lodge had 12 new cases linked to the cluster, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 18.

At the Tampines Dormitory cluster, eight additional cases were found, bringing the total there to 17.
In total, six more cases were linked to the Cochrane Lodge I and Cochrane Lodge II clusters, both in Admiralty Road West. Both places have a total of 12 confirmed cases.

There were three more links to the cluster at a construction site at Project Glory, which has a total of 21 confirmed cases now.

Seven additional cases were linked to the cluster at Mustafa Centre, which now has a total of 45 confirmed cases.

Three more cases were linked to the cluster at Lee Ah Mooi Old Age Home, which now which has a total of 16 cases.... CNA

From the above there are more than 200 foreign workers affected by the virus and this number is growing. It may look insignificant given the millions of foreign workers here, but it is big enough amber to start a big fire. The only fortunate thing is that they have clearly defined place of lodging. If these workers are residing freely all over the housing estates, my God, the number of infection would be grossly amplified and impossible to trace.

Pray that this problem is contained. And the partial lockdown on non essential activities and businesses is very necessary to keep the foreign workers from moving around and spreading the virus.

The unfortunate thing is that there is no medicine to treat this virus at the moment and their recovery is mainly dependent on their own immune system and unproven medicine that were used to treat them.

The number of clusters even among the foreign workers is growing dramatically.

Yaacob Ibrahim was blasted for his comments about lesser foreign workers in public places. 

'MP Yaacob Ibrahim was upbraided on social media today for attributing the emptying of a green space of migrant workers to the coronavirus.  

Several people accused the former communications and information minister of xenophobia for citing the “inconvenience” caused by workers in a Sunday post about the empty field that is usually occupied by “foreign domestic workers.” ' Yahoo News.

With 2 over millions foreigners here, dunno who brought so many here, it is very difficult not to see foreigners in public places in huge numbers. The ratio now is about 1.5 Singaporeans to 1 foreigners or every 5 people, 2 are foreigners. Could be 1 to 1 if new citizens are included.

Looks like ordinary Singaporeans are not the only ones getting very uncomfortable and unbearable with the presence of so many foreigners. But what to do when they did not know how to use their votes to bring down the number of foreigners in their homeland.

PS Yesterday's 142 case of new infection is a new record coming after April Fool's Day with a partial lockdown that is proving to be a bit too late, too little to stop the explosion.  Too much praises from world leaders is nice and infectious too.

Covid19 -Trump screws Canada's boy PM

After happily conspiring with Trump to arrest Huawei's CFO, boy PM Trudeau and girly FM Freeland were so happy to be on the good books of Trump. They had done what Trump wanted them to do, ingratiated to Trump and think Trump will be nice to them and Canada. It does not take long for Trump to show them his true colour, Americans first come what may. Whatever silly things the Canadians did for him mean nothing.

The USA is desperate for medical supplies and N95 masks are facing huge shortage. Trump not only stole the consignments from 3M, China destined for France and Germany, he ordered 3M to stop exporting to Canada. Canada is also short of these masks and desperately trying to get their hands on them. What Trump did was a tight slap on the faces of Trudeau and Freeland. The two kids are angry but hapless. They could not do anything about it. Trudeau said he would not retaliate.

This is just retribution for sleeping with Devil. The Devil has turned around to screw them real hard and the sick Canadians are going to pay for their naivity and silliness to conspire with Trump. Can they go begging China for N95 masks?  What would China say to these two dumb kids?

The only way to redeem themselves now is to distance from Trump and send the Huawei CFO home to China. That may save them some time and get the Chinese to offer them some aid. Anything less will not work.

This is a very painful less, very embarrassing for the boy PM and grily FM. Would they learn anything from it? Or would he go crying to Trump and say, 'I thought we were friends after working hand in glove to fix China, arresting Huawei's CFO? Don't you remember how glad you were when we agreed to help you? How can you do these to us now? We are friends, we are friends.' No?

Americans first, you die your business.

Covid19 - 20,000 men under 14 days lockdown in dormitories

On April 1st I asked whether it was a fools day or a day of wisdom to decide tougher measures in view of the community spread that is getting more serious. 3 days later the govt announced that there will be a partial lockdown, called circuit breaker on 7 April. The semi lockdown is one week late. In the meantime we saw the biggest one day infection rate of 120 cases on 5 April and two workers domitories being declared as isolation centres.  All in 20,000 foreign workers would be lockdown in the two dormitories after two big clusters emerged from them, ie the S11 Dormitory in Seletar North (13,000 men) and the Westlite Toh Guan dormitory(7,000 men) in Toh Guan Road. S11 has 63 confirmed cases while Toh Guan has 28 cases at this moment of writing(6 April).

The locking down of 20,000 workers is only the first step. Now contact tracing of  the workers' companion should be on the way, many are foreign maids. This would be linked directly to their employers and their respective families. The possibility of the workers' companion being tested positive is high, and so will be their respective employers. How big these two clusters will be only time will tell.

And this is only the beginning of the problem, 20,000 people isolated. This brings to mind the isolation and containment of several thousand holiday makers in the cruise ships. The situation is quite similar and the risk as well. How many more of these workers in the isolation centres would eventually also be infected? If the experience of what happened in the cruise is to be repeated, the situation is dire.

If, I say if, the infection rate picks up and the workers in the centres are stricken by fear that they too would get infected, the big question is whether they would do a breakout. This likelihood is going to pose a big security problem to the gate keepers. How to guard and prevent a breakout of 10,000 to 20,000 foreigner workers fearing for their lives? These are not sophisticated people but poorly educated villagers and getting hysteria, being very frighten and running wild cannot be ruled out.

How many police or soldiers would be needed to guard these interned workers? If this thing explodes, it would be many times more serious than the Little India Incident and many times more difficult to control and to bring them back to an isolation centre. If there is a breakout and with some already infected, it would be a very serious problem. Controlling 20,000 people that are stricken with fear and panicking would need many times more manpower to do so unless the centres are secured before hand with effective barriers to reduce the workload of the gate keepers.

This is a hot potato and managing it is not easy when hell breaks loose. When they are so frighten and decide to run for their lives....

PS. 

The nation’s leading infectious disease specialist said Sunday night that as many as half the people infected with the virus may not have any symptoms, a much larger estimate than the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gave last week.

“It’s somewhere between 25 and 50 percent,” said the specialist, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, during a briefing by President Trump and members of his coronavirus task force on Sunday. NYT

Covid19 - What western media are not reporting or reporting about China

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUDJJb8Umzg

The above video clip by CGTN hosted by Liu Xin exposed the dirty western media in reporting everything that is bad about China no matter what China did to help the rest of the world in this pandemic.

China is running its medical supplies full steam to produce all the medical supplies needed by is being condemned by western media for doing so, condemning Chinese products, Chinese intent, Chinese manufacturers are profiting etc etc.

They would not say a good word for China. What would they say if China stop producing these products for the affected countries? On one hand they would not hesitate to grab all the medical supplies given by China. On the other hand they would bad mouth China. These are sick countries, sick people.

Evilness would get their evil karma for sure.

Should China stop exporting these medical supplies to those countries begging for them? Should China stop sending any medical supplies to the USA?

China should tell those unfriendly countries, go away, we are not selling to your countries. Go and ask Trump to help you.

As it is today, China has been sending medical supplies and experts to nearly every country affected by Covid19.  Many of the medical supplies from China were pure donations and others were sold often at cost or below market prices. But mischievous western media have been attacking China non stop and smearing and demonising China for helping the affected countries.

The Americans only claimed that they are going to send supplies to help Italy, France and Spain but nothing was sent. The truth is that it is Americans First and the Americans have been seizing medical supplies bought by European countries, hijacking them direct from the airport tarmac and scooted to the USA. These are what the Americans called helping other countries.  Germany has called it piracy. Below are some examples of American hypocrisies and treachery.

1. U.S. President Donald Trump has asked manufacturing giant 3M to stop exporting American-made N95 face masks to Canada. Mercedes Stephenson has the pushback from 3M and Canada's political leaders. Plus, Jackson Proskow looks at how desperation is deepening in the U.S., and...Global News

2. The US has been accused of redirecting 200,000 Germany-bound masks for its own use, in a move condemned as "modern piracy".

The local government in Berlin said the shipment of US-made masks was "confiscated" in Bangkok.
The FFP2 masks, which were ordered by Berlin's police force, did not reach their destination, it said.
Andreas Geisel, Berlin's interior minister, said the masks were presumably diverted to the US.  BBC

3. The president of the Ile-de-France region encompassing Paris, Valerie Pecresse, said this week that a shipment of masks ordered for her hard-hit department was snatched at the last minute by "Americans who made a higher bid".

"The Americans pay cash sight unseen, which obviously can be more tempting for people just looking to make money off the entire world's distress," she said.  CNA

Covid19 - Dorscon Pink in Singapore

Singapore is under the state of Dorscon Pink. I am not sure if this is official. I have yet to hear anyone mentioning about a Pink state of affair. I am not sure if the above chart is official. It could be.

Dorscon Pink is a circuit breaker state. It trips while trying to surge to Dorscon Red. Now Red is a very alarming and emotional colour. Many people could become hysterical, in a state of fear. Dorscon Red is a lockdown. Pink is half way there, nearly there but not there. People can still move around doing essential things, buying food, seeing doctors, banking but not socialising, drinking, partying or gossiping in the kopitiam. Movement of people, contact of people will be kept to a minimum and only when absolutely necessary. Non essential services will be shut down.

The situation is getting serious for sure. I am not sure if Pink is the colour that would keep us safe. Can Singapore continue to keep new infected cases below 100 a day and avoid an exponential increase and become an Italy, Spain or New York? The responsibility and effectiveness now rest on the team of contact tracing staff. They need to act very fast and to trace everyone that has been in contact with an infected guy. Anyone that has been infected and walking free is a spreader walking free. One day out there means many people to share the virus. Dorscon Pink by asking everyone to stay home could limit the exposure a bit but not a complete isolation.

Let's pray that the team would not miss anyone out there walking freely with the virus in him. Let's watch the number in the next 7 days to see if community spread is growing or shrinking. If things did not improve, the next improvise state would be Dark Pink or another shade of Pink. No Red, never.

PS.  After yesterday's numbers, with more and more clusters appearing, the situation is not looking on. Would this circuit breaker, Dorscon Pink, be a little too late and make things worse?  Do not listen to clown Trump, this thing would not miraculously go away so easily.

PAYING OUR NURSES MORE ... DO IT NOW.

 


[Straits Times ST Forum 16 April 2003]

LET’S PAY OUR NURSES MORE.

A MESSAGE FOR TODAY FROM THE PAST FUTURE ....
In the 16 April 2003 ST Forum on the critical role of Nurses during SARS, I wrote :-hashtaST Forum on the critical role of nurses during SARS, I wrote:

“Saying thanks is fine, but let us pay our nurses more”. “What Singaporeans have mistakenly identified as “exceptional courage” in nurses is in fact an inherent personality trait. Their capacity for love, sympathy and endurance, unfazed by the fatal experience of their fellows, defines who they truly are; tending to the sick and suffering in what they do. It is more than just a job or a passion. It is the conviction of their calling. This is their creed.... Their hospital workplace is a battlefield of germs, and the SARS virus is merely the latest, though not the deadliest, to enjoin the daily battles”. “They perform their tasks with effortless cheer, as they fight the bugs to the end with every trick, knowledge and passion to make a difference to the comfort of the sick and unwell. The nurse is also the doctor’s guard against forgetfulness, ever-present and questioning conscience; his skilled right arm”. “We must [in 2020] today reward our COVID19 nurses more, to demonstrate the sincerity of our messages of gratitude and thanks, failing which ... the compliments would be just empty symbols.” Our Nurses truly deserve more, much more than just our applause!

FIGHT COVID19 - STOP HOARDING, START SHARING.

STOP HOARDING.  START SHARING.  

There is more than enough food in #Singapore, as repeatedly assured by the leadership of PM Lee and our 4G leaders leading the COVID19 fight.  SHARING is a better strategy now, and for the worst of times if ever they come.  If you continued to be more Fearful of dying from hunger instead of the coronavirus, team up with your neighbours to pool food and other essential resources to share and look after each other and loved ones.  

Residents Committees and Block Committees can organise and unite residents in the community through Well-being Hubs networking at the neighbourhood, block or precinct levels to enjoy the tremendous economics of sharing, especially with the elderly, sick and vulnerable among us.   This innovation will provide a collective sense of common hope and destiny for the motivation and sustainability of a United Singapore culture as we emerge victorious from this COVID19 crisis.