Covid-19 crisis Recording of contact tracing details
Under code Orange of the disease outbreak framework, organizations are required to record the contact details of visitors for contract tracing. This takes a lot of effort and the contact details are hardly used. 

I find it to be a wasteful activity and should be stopped. The resources can be better spent on other more effective activities to stop the spread of the virus.

I agree that contract tracing is useful, but the work spent in collecting the contact tracing details is wasteful. 

How can we carry out contact tracing without the effort to record the details for the tracing to be carried out?

In most cases, the infected person will be able to identify the friends, work mates and family members that they had met during the past 14 days and to provide the details for the tracing. The infected persons could contact these people on his or her own. It will be more effective when done by the infected person through the telephone.

The infected person may not know most of the casual contacts but the risk of infection through a short contact is negligible and can be ignored. 

How can the resources be better used?

I prefer that hand sanitizers be installed at public places and temporary workers be engaged to ensure that they are replenished several times throughout the day. This is probably the most effective in stopping the spread of the virus through hand contacts. 

I also prefer the temperature checking to be done at all public locations, such as MRT stations, bus interchanges, markets and malls and that people with a fever should be asked to go for swab testing at designated facilities. The swab testing is free of charge for the public.

Let us stop the recording of contact tracing details and put these financial and human resources to better use to stop the spread of the virus.

Tan Kin Lian

 

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