By now you would’ve realised that a lot of people are beginning to wear surgical masks while they go about their day.
Just recently, retail outlets too began to run out of both surgical masks and N95 masks owing to the increase in demand.
In addition, long queues are forming outside outlets that do have stocks. But before you turn all kiasu, here’s a piece of good news for you:
There Should be Enough Surgical Masks If People in S’pore Buy Them ‘Sensibly & Responsibly’
The Senior Minister of State for Health Lam Pin Min is here to rest your Wuhan weary souls with this piece of good news.
He said, “the supply of masks in Singapore is sufficient if they are used sensibly and responsibly”.
The assurance came after two new cases of the Wuhan virus was discovered in Singapore, which brings the total number of people with the coronavirus on our sunny island to seven.
This was followed by an introduction of new travel bans and advisories that have already kicked in, including barring entry of travellers with passports issued in Hubei and no transit or entry of those who have been in Hubei in the last 14 days.
Amidst all of that panic, Dr Lam is giving a piece of advice to Singaporeans, which I doubt anyone will adhere to: “There is no need to rush to buy masks.”
It practically goes against the very core of a Singaporean’s key traits: we love to queue and we are kiasu.
He also added that the government is working closely with retailers such as NTUC FairPrice and Unity Pharmacy to push out the stocks, and had been with NTUC FairPrice’s CEO Seah Kian Peng to check on the mask stock.
Do Not Stockpile Masks So There’s Adequate Supply For Everyone
There’s no need to hoard all the masks because he assures that there is enough to go around.
He’s also working with retailers to manage the price of the masks so that they are reminded “not to profiteer” from the soaring demand.
Now what he said next is undoubtedly going to spark a lot of doubt, but hear this and hear it well people:
“As there is currently no local transmission of the 2019-nCoV infection, masks are generally not needed in our normal daily activities.”
What? There’s no need to wear a mask? This news is evidently more shocking than this shocked cat.
Let’s all do our part to remain vigilant and stay calm, as Mr Lam puts it.
And if you indeed have a mask, do check out this article on how to wear it correctly; you won’t want to spend one hour to buy the masks only to realise you’ve been wearing it wrongly.
Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:
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