Remember back in the days when we could sing our hearts out in KTV studios?
Back then, as more restrictions were imposed, we were all saying, “Like that is like lockdown liao lah.”
We used the word “lockdown” so loosely that our dear ministers had to step in to tell us that it wasn’t a “lockdown”.
And now, with new community cases hitting 20 and above for two consecutive days, we’re now using another phrase that’s struck fear in many countries: second wave.
After all, some cities are now fighting a second wave, and experts have emphasized that there are chances of a second wave coming.
Today, National Development Minister Lawrence Wong and Health Minister Gan Kim Yong left their GRC teams to hold a virtual press conference and confirmed that we didn’t have a second wave.
Reader Bao: The last time they said we didn’t have a lockdown, PM Lee soon went up to the podium to—
Here’s what you should know.
Singapore Isn’t Having a 2nd Wave of COVID-19 Infections But The Risk is Still There
Today, Mr Gan said that there’s been no second wave of infections even through 9 people from an HDB block have been infected. All the households and visitors to the area have been offered COVID-19 tests, and of the 118 people who took the tests, none of them have been tested positive.
However, they were, indeed, worried that it could lead to a major cluster and therefore tested so many people there.
And that shows that despite us still worrying more about who to vote for instead of who has been infected, the risk is still there. He added, “We must continue to remain vigilant, because if we let our guard down, the virus will creep in, the infections will grow and we will have a bigger problem on our hands.”
On the authorities’ side, they’ll do more, saying that once “we see a possible cluster forming, we will move in quickly to impose precautionary measures to break the chain of transmission.”
And his goody friend, Minister Lawrence Wong, added that Singapore cannot rule out adding more restrictions or even worse—having a Circuit Breaker again—if needed.
He said, “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.”
As of now, they still cannot establish how a household could have potentially infected another household in a block. Of course, this could be a coincidence—a bad joke made by the devil known as 2020.
Nevertheless, you shouldn’t just worry about a second wave or the lift buttons.
Instead, you should worry about your second home: your workplace.
More People Getting Infected in Workplaces During Phase Two
Before Phase Two, 22% of people were infected at their workplace.
Now, the number has increased to 36%.
Granted that it could be due to more people heading to their workplaces nowadays, this could be prevented if we can still work from home and have safe management measures in the workplace.
After all, you don’t kiss your colleagues goodbye, but you did kiss your wife goodbye.
Minister Wong said, “I hear some people saying that their bosses are now asking them to go back to work. Well, that should not be the case.
“Employers should still have their staff work from home. They should only come back to the office to work if there’s a clear and demonstrable need to do so because employees need to use some specialised equipment or machinery at work.”
According to the authorities, the default working mode in Phase Two should still be to work from home—that means if you can work from home, your boss shouldn’t ask you to come back.
Social Interactions Infections Double
As for infections due to social interactions, that has doubled, from 1% to 2%.
Though…we tend to wonder: how did the 1% come about in the first place since social interactions were technically banned before Phase Two?
Almost Half of Community Cases in Recent Days Could be Old Infections
If you’ve downloaded our app, you’d know about this: firstly, the virus could stay in your body after a long period and you could be tested positive, but it could be past infections and you’re no longer infectious. An antibody test could check if your infection is current or past, and if it’s a past infection, you might no longer be infectious anymore.
Might.
And here’s some goody news: most of the new community cases are people who are already isolated as they’re close contacts of a case. So even if they’re new infections, they can’t infect anyone.
As for community cases that are unlinked, 3 in 5 of them have no symptoms, and half of them tested positive for antibodies—which meant they could be old infections.
What we should worry about are cases with symptoms (i.e. current infection) and are unlinked to other cases.
Which is why you shouldn’t just read the headline of an article.
You know there are 20 community cases today and you might have stocked up even more toilet rolls, but did you know that of these 20 cases, 12 are close contacts of earlier cases and are already isolated?
And that for yesterday’s 23 community cases, 17 are linked to previous cases or clusters?
So do beyond reading the headlines and you’d know why we’re not having a second wave.
Yet.
Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:
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