Study Identifies ‘High Traffic’ As Factor Behind Increased Infection Risks At Toa Payoh Lorong 8 Market

By
Rae Woo
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As everyone knows, Singapore is slowly moving towards the goal of treating COVID-19 as an endemic.

Guidelines have been updated again and again, and people are reading platforms like Goody Feed every day to figure out what’s new.

Well, on the COVID-19 front here at home, we have another update; and it has something to do with human traffic.

Study: Toa Payoh Lor 8 Market Identified As High-Risk Two Months Before COVID-19 Erupted

The Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS), National University of Singapore (NUS) and Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) came together to conduct a study on how COVID-19 clusters typically formed.

More than 40 cases were recently found to have originated from the Toa Payoh Lorong 8 Market and Food Centre after some were detected among stall owners and workers there.

It has since been closed for three days of deep cleaning following rapid testing to stop the spread.

Yet, two months before the cluster originated, the study had already identified the area as high risk, claiming that it was significantly vulnerable to COVID-19 infections.

High Footfall Traffic

The study was led by SUSS Associate Professor Leong Chan-Hoong, who cited high footfall traffic and the inability of residents there to work from home as the reason behind the conclusion.

As the market was in a location surrounded by vehicle depots, schools and industrial areas, sandwiched between Braddell Road and the Central Expressway, it was natural that the location will be visited by a lot of people.

Singaporeans travelling back from the city or trying to get to the other side of the island were likely to have passed through, which increased the risk of transmission.

Additionally, most of the residents in the area tended to be elderly ones or those that worked in jobs that couldn’t be performed from home.

Many elderly residents would just come down to the market to run their errands or leave their homes to work, which are part of their usual routines that they may not perceive to be risky, Prof Leong said.

Which is why warnings to remain at home won’t have much of an effect there.

Elderly residents who were already vaccinated may have felt that they were at less risk, although this same group were more likely to observe safe distancing rules or mask-wearing in a lax manner, he added.

EZ-Link Data Was Used To Track Traffic 

Conducted from January to June 2020, the study aimed to discover potential high-risk points where the COVID-19 virus could originate from with data on Singaporeans’ movement.

And the easiest way to track movement among citizens was to use data from EZ-Link cards as it records where you’ve been and how you travel across the nation.

Researchers were also able to study the differences in crowd size before and during the Circuit Breaker period, where barely anyone left their homes.

“EZ-link card data is extremely useful for us. We are able to analyse the movement of people with data points that provide spatial information at different times of the day,” Prof Leong commented.

They were thus able to study the flow of human traffic during peak hours.

Other clusters in Toa Payoh, including that of the bus interchange which has over 250 cases linked to it, remain risky areas as well.

So if you’re ever in Toa Payoh or need to pass it by, stay careful.

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Rae Woo
Email: [email protected]