You’ve probably heard about the 32-year-old Covid-19 patient who decided it’s okay to eat at Seoul Garden with 12 other family members.
Investigations revealed that the family of 12 occupied three tables and intermingled.
Among those present was the man’s two-year-old niece who was earlier issued a five-day medical certificate – from 20 Nov to 24 Nov – for runny nose.
Fortunately, she has since tested negative for Covid-19.
All his close contacts, including those who attended the dinner, have been isolated and placed under quarantine.
So, what’re the consequences of one person allegedly deciding that it’s okay to break Covid-19 rules?
According to experts? Many things, albeit not-so-serious ones…yet.
Experts Say a Small Cluster Might Emerge from Seoul Garden Dinner But Contact Tracing Would Tame It
According to Professor Dale Fisher, a senior consultant at the division of infectious diseases at NUH, he could have passed the coronavirus on and create a “second generation of cases”.
It’ll be a small cluster, he said, and if the contacts are quarantined when diagnosed, the transmission chain can stop there.
It seems that the good professor isn’t the only one thinking this way as Professor Teo Yik Ying, the dean of NUS’s Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, said he wasn’t too worried about this “single case”.
He is confident that Singapore’s contact tracing capabilities will pick up everyone who is exposed and quarantine them at the earliest time possible.
*checking TraceTogether app to see if I’m exposed*
Take Safe Distancing Measures Seriously
Nonetheless, that’s no reason to disregard safe distancing measures.
The experts that ST spoke to say that this is a “stark reminder” that safe distancing measures must be “taken seriously” and adhered to.
Associate Professor Alex Cook is of the opinion that if the rules were not broken, only 4 individuals will be exposed instead of 12.
That’s a 300% increase.
Virus is Kept Under Control, Not Gone
Having a “zero stretch of community cases” doesn’t mean people in Singapore can relax and go wild.
According to Professor Teo, there are two purposes in the safe distancing measures implemented.
One is to keep cases low in the community. And if it fails, the protocols will ensure that the coronavirus outbreak is slowed down and contained as quickly as possible.
Professor Gavin J. Smith, interim director of the emerging infectious diseases programme at the Duke-NUS Medical School pointed out that Covid-19 is kept low and not gone.
With people sticking to the safe management measures implemented, it’ll make it a lot easier to control the situation.
In Short
Singapore’s anti-Covid-19 protocols can still handle a single dude who decided eating with 12 family members is a perfectly fine thing to do.
But if you add in more, it might be a wholly different story.
Featured Image: kandl stock / Shutterstock.com
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