Experts Warn That S’pore Could See 2nd Wave of COVID-19 Infections Like Other Countries

By
George Yang
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A few months ago, the word “lockdown” would strike fear even to a manly guy who eats cockroaches for lunch.

But now that we’ve experienced the sovereignty of a lockdown, another phrase now strikes fear to those manly guys who now have cakes for dinner: second wave.

After all, several countries and cities are now experiencing the second wave, and a second lockdown has been implemented in some places.

Which leads to the million-dollar question: would Singapore see a second wave, too?

Experts Warn That S’pore Could See 2nd Wave of COVID-19 Infections Like Other Countries

In a virtual press conference back on 7 July 2020 when Lawrence Wong and Gan Kim Yong were candidates for PAP, Mr Gan said that despite the “cluster” in a Tampines HDB block, there was no second wave.

Yet.

The increase in community cases is expected since we’re opening up, and people are going to Singapore Pools outlets or casinos.

But that doesn’t mean the second wave isn’t coming. Back then, Lawrence Wong did say that they don’t rule out a second Circuit Breaker completely, adding, “No one can rule out that possibility. Countries that exited from their lockdowns have had to reimpose lockdowns. But we’ll try very hard not to have to go down that path.”

Since ministers can’t predict the future, we’d have to turn to experts, who’ve successfully predicted the future before like predicting when the elections would take place.

Reader Bao: I’m now afraid to read this article

I know. I’m shaking as I write this while stocking up on toilet rolls.

For a start, to look at Singapore’s future, we need to look at other countries. Unless you’ve been avoiding all COVID-19 articles, you’d know that there’s a spike in cases globally. To scare you even more, here’s fun fact: do you know that worldwide, there are now 13.7 million cases, and 586k deaths?

Here’s a graph to show you why WHO is saying that it’s getting worse x 3:

Second waves have also been reported in other countries, and some countries are seeing a spike after the curve has been flattened. A good example would be a country ruled by someone who’s finally seen wearing a mask publicly:

Experts in Singapore therefore say that if people are not cautious, we could follow the worldwide trend.

But here’s the key phrase: if people are not cautious.

There’s one advantage here in Singapore, though: the very strict enforcement of the COVID-19 rules.

Unlike other countries whereby people took to the streets to protest for haircuts or the rights not to wear masks, Singapore is jailing people for having bak kut teh in a hawker centre.

Most of the experts agree that with appropriate measures, we might not go the way of other countries.

Associate Professor Alex Cook, vice-dean of research in National University of Singapore’s Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, said, “We can see the effects of this in other countries. When lockdowns end, the epidemic resurges, unless there are adequate measures such as mask wearing and contact tracing in place.”

Needless to say, Singapore is extremely aggressive in mask-wearing and contact-tracing.

But how about the General Election? Would that lead to a second wave?

Prof Cook said, “It was a one-off event, so even if there were some additional risks from the voting process, the impact on the epidemic would be limited.”

So what’s the conclusion? What did the fortune-tellers say?

Basically, yes, based on data from other countries, there’s a chance that we would see a second wave. But if we wear our masks and not kiss ten strangers every day, then the risk is lower.

Reader Bao: Got read like no read like that

IKR.

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George Yang
Email: [email protected]