Covid-19 crisis Lesson from New York
New York City is the epicenter of the covid-19 crisis in America. It had many cases and many deaths. The projections by the disease experts were dire. New York needs to have more treatment capacity. They need a thousand ventilators, maybe more.

A major project was undertaken to convert Javits Center in New York City, which was normally a convention center, into a treatment center with 1,700 beds.

The report below said that only 44 beds were used. The rest was left empty. It seemed that the projection was wrong. 

The explanation from the disease experts and political leaders was that the lockdown had reduced the number of infections and "flattened the curve".

It is quite fashionable for the experts and politicians to take extreme measures "to be safe". In the process, they may be wasting a lot of resources that could be used better elsewhere.

Maybe the case load will increase later. Maybe not.

New York City is now considering the use of a military hospital ship to treat the less serious cases. I wonder why they need to use the ship, when there are many beds in Javits Center that are not used.

I want to draw a parallel with Singapore. It is also fashionable here to "play safe" and to take extreme measures that are costly and may be unnecessary.

I do wish that there is somebody who is willing to stop the panic mode and take the responsibility to say "not yet" and "let us wait to see if the situation is really that bad". We really need strong leaders. 

Read this report. 

Tan Kin Lian
 

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