Covid-19 crisis
Will TKL get infected with the coronavirus?
There will be a 5% chance that TKL (that's me) will be infected with the coronavirus. Maybe higher.
Why?
Here are the infection rates in some major cities.
Wuhan - 60%
New York City - 19.9%
London - 17.5%
Madrid - 11.3%
Boston - 9.9%
Sweden - 7.3%
https://www.nytimes.com/…/u…/coronavirus-herd-immunity.html…
My guess is that the actual infection rate in Singapore in the wider community must be 5% or higher. There is inadequate testing (except for the foreign workers), so we think our infection rate is low.
But I am not scared of the risk of infection. Why?
Take a look at the 30,000 or more foreign workers that have been infected and tested positive. How many need to be hospitalized? How many need intensive care? How many died?
The number is low. Actually, very low. This is why I am not scared.
Even if I get infected, there is a low chance of it causing serious harm. I face a bigger risk of being in an accident or falling down the stairs.
Some people observed that the foreign workers are young. That is why the casualty is low.
They advised me to be careful, as I belong to the "vulnerable" group, because I am over 70 years.
I ask these people to think more deeply. The coronavirus does not attack old people. They attack people in bad health, i.e. with pre-existing medical conditions of a serious nature. These are the people who are hypertensive, diabetic or have heart condition. Of course, many of them are also old.
But there are older people who are in good health. Their risk is quite low, just like the younger healthy people. I belong to this group, as I do not have any of the high risk medical conditions.
A fair proportion of the foreign workers are not healthy - they are obese or diabetic. Still, they do not die from the coronavirus.
My reasoning is that the coronavirus is mild in a warm climate in Singapore.
I make my risk assessment and judgment based on the facts that I can see.
I do not make judgment based on facts or information that are relevant elsewhere, but are probably not relevant to us.
I do not make decisions based on "what might happen" or "the sky may fall down".
If people are dropping down like flies in Singapore, due to the coronavirus, I will also be scared. But they are not. So, I am not scared.
The insane ministers dictate that I should wear a mask when I go out. They also dictate that I should be scanned several times a day for contact tracing. They threaten to impose a heavy fine if I do not comply with their insane requirements.
OK, so I comply. But I do not need to be terrified of the coronavirus, even if the insane ministers are.
We have to suffer a misfortune because we have voted insane ministers to be in power in this country.
You know what?
In spite of the low risk, there is still a chance that TKL will die from the coronavirus.
However, there is a bigger risk that he will die from an accident or from a fall. There are so many ways that he can die. The coronavirus is probably not his biggest risk.
He is more likely to die from suffocation or other consequences from using the mask, rather than from the coronavirus that the mask is supposed to keep out.
For people who think that the coronavirus is the biggest threat to Singapore in the past many decades, I say this - I agree.
The harm did not come from the corona virus itself. The harm is largely caused by the circuit breaker measures imposed and extended by the insane ministers. It has led to a waste of $95 billion from our reserves, and perhaps more to come.
It has also caused several hundred thousand of families to suffer large financial and economic loss. Some of them have died, or will die, from suicide and depression caused by the economic damage of the circuit breaker measures. Some will die due to neglect of their medical treatment while the whole nation focus on the coronavirus.
Tan Kin Lian
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