It’s been 5 days of Phase One, and the numbers haven’t been promising so far.
Since two days ago, the number of new community cases per day has been at double-digit.
Today, we finally have a respite.
There are 344 COVID-19 cases reported today.
This brings the total to 37,527 cases in Singapore
3 are Singaporeans or Singapore PRs, and the number of community cases today is 7.
The majority of the cases are work permit holders residing in dormitories.
On average, based on yesterday’s numbers, the number of new cases in the community has increased, from an average of 5 cases per day in the week before, to an average of 6 per day in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has remained stable at an average of 2 per day in the past two weeks.
Scary numbers to look at, considering that we’ve just exited Circuit Breaker.
However, it’s important for us to look beyond the numbers.
Look Beyond the Numbers
Questions of a specific number to target have been asked by journalists during the multi-ministry task force virtual press conference.
After all, you can’t manage what you can’t measure.
The answer has been the same: there’s no magic number to look at. We need to look beyond the numbers.
For example, let’s look at yesterday’s numbers. Out of the 6 Singaporeans / Singapore PRs, 5 of them are linked to previously confirmed cases and have already been placed on quarantine. These means they could’ve been infected way before Circuit Breaker ended—heck, maybe even before the Circuit Breaker begins.
Another example that’s more tricky; MOH just discovered that 3 previously confirmed cases might have been infected a while back; they’re still tested positive because they could be shedding minute fragments of the virus RNA picked by the PCR test. They could or could not be infective to others because studies have shown Covid-19 patients are no longer infectious after 11 days of getting sick.
Get the gist so far?
While the numbers sound scary, it’s important to look beyond the numbers, especially so now that we know that recovered people could still be tested positive.
In addition, MOH is also doing proactive testing and screening, which means we might pick up more local cases—whether past infections, current infections or simply people who’ve already been quarantined.
You’re already doing a good job of reading beyond the headline, so continue to do so because headlines can only provide so much detail.
Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:
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