Ho Ching Shows Data That Fewer People Go Out When Dine-In is Capped at 2 People

By
Shawn Ambrose
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“You never know what you’ve got until it’s gone.”

This saying can apply to many things nowadays, such as travelling, having parties, and eating out.

Eating out, a pastime for many Singaporeans, has been taken away and given back to us so many times during the pandemic that we start sweating whenever we see Ministers Lawrence Wong and Ong Ye Kung behind a microphone.

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Some netizens have complained about the dining-in measures, but it seems to be keeping more people at home.

Ho Ching Shows Data That Fewer People Go Out When Dine-In is Capped at 2 People

There was a sharp drop in the number of people going out when the new rules for dining in kicked in late last month, Ho Ching revealed in a Facebook post.

Ho cited Google mobility data which showed a substantial fall in the number of people going out after the ‘stop at two’ rules for dining in took effect on 27 Sep.

Image: Facebook (Ho Ching)
Image: Facebook (Ho Ching)

While the figures went up again, they weren’t as high as before, when diners were allowed to eat out in groups of five.

“The hunger for social makan is high – part of human nature,” Ho wrote.

Likely to Have 3 to 5 Undetected Cases For Every Confirmed Case in Singapore

Ho said that in the US, epidemiology studies show that the country has around five to six undetected cases for every confirmed case they report.

In Singapore, this range is a little lower – around three to four.

She added that as long as the 70,000 or so unvaccinated seniors are not affected, our hospitals should be able to manage.

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But it is certainly not ideal, as hospitals have had to postpone elective clinical services, which means patients who have had their surgery or treatment delayed could suffer from more dangerous conditions later on.

Cases are Growing, But Not as Fast as Before

At the moment, our weekly infection growth rate is 1.15, meaning a week-on-week growth of 15%.  As Ho noted, our case numbers are still climbing, but they are not doubling as fast as before.

Ho said that with the mobility data showing more and more people starting to dine out again, we may have to “tahan” for two to four months, rather than one to three months.

And it’s possible that we may contract the virus in that time.

“But if we are vaccinated, and boosted when eligible, we no longer should fear the virus,” she wrote.

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Featured Image: Facebook (Ho Ching)

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Shawn Ambrose
Email: [email protected]