Covid-19 crisis Do not over react to the increase in community cases
There is widespread fear, indeed a paranoia, in Singapore about the increase in community cases and the formation of a few infection clusters, possibly involving the Indian variant of the covid virus.

This fear is stroked by the government ministers, who have reacted by re-imposing restrictions, described as a return to phase 2 of the circuit breaker.

Many comments in the social media lambasted the government for reacting too slowly to the closure of the borders, especially to travelers from India.

I have a different opinion of this issue. 

I believe that the government ministers, and indeed the general public, is over reacting to the potential risks.

In most countries, the infection rate and deaths have declined from the peak of the wave a few weeks ago. India is among the few exception.

I observed that in Singapore, the few community cases do not cause much harm. They do not spread widely. 5 to 10 cases a day do not become 100 or 1000 cases. 

The community cases are people tested positive for the covid. In most cases, they are asymptomatic and mild. They do not spread widely. If they do, the spread is limited. They do not need hospital care.

There is no need to extrapolate that we will face a crisis similar to India, if we let our guard down. The environmental conditions and risk factors are quite different. 

Of course, I could be wrong. 

My approach is to look at the hospital admissions due to covid. If many people have to be admitted for treatment of covid, we should be concerned. But the time has not come yet.

There is a risk of over reacting to the paranoia. The re-imposition of restrictions will cause harm to the economic and to the small business and livelihoods, affecting several hundred thousand people in Singapore.  

It will lead an increase in financial distress, depression and suicides. 

This cost should also be considered.

I want to point out the risk of over-reaction to the potential crisis that may not come.

Tan Kin Lian





 

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