The COVID-19 Problem and Solution in Singapore

(This blog is not me condemning the Singapore Government. It’s just my point of view. All cursing has been bleeped. Family-Friendly content. All links will be found down below. Stay Safe! Stay Healthy! Observe all restrictions carefully!)

Look. I have been trying to stop myself from listening, watching, hearing and cursing COVID-19 news. But just this time, I needed to spread my perspective on the situation. According to my data, around 95% of those reading my blog are Singaporeans. So I wanted to pass on the knowledge and my opinion on the situation.

If you go online and look at any video on YouTube of the Multi-Ministry Task Force (MMTF) speaking on the pandemic and go to the comments, you’ll find a large proportion of hate comments and huge likes-to-dislikes ratios. For example, this video of Health Minister Ong Ye Kung addressing the problems over the controversial Home Recovery programme. Go to the comments. It’s like a battleground.

To summarise the past three months between August and October for you. It goes something like this:

- Prime Minister Lee announces Government to change focus on COVID-19

- Make Singapore COVID-Resilient and prepare for an Endemic COVID-19 World

- Relaxation of Restrictions in Singapore to help with the transition

- Cases suddenly shoot up

- Government announces Home Recovery Programme and Booster Shots for old

- 1000 New Cases by Mid-September

- Tightening of Restrictions on September 24

- New Cases hit 2000 by End-September

- 3000 new cases by Early October

- PM Lee address concerns over COVID-19 in Mid-October after rise in cases

In my opinion, we screwed up. Big time.

Chapter 1 - The Perfect Wave of Problems

The formula to this is:

n(problem) = Disaster

In this situation there were a lot of problems. I will briefly describe each problem and then give my point of view towards it.

1) Home Recovery - The Home Recovery Pilot is basically this. If you have mild/no symptoms of COVID or you are younger in age, you recover at home from COVID. Thus the name Home Recovery. If you head online, you will see a few horror stories from families and patients recovering from home [1]. Some saying that they were ‘confused and frustrated’ as the Ministry of Health (MOH) hotline was jammed with calls and there was little, if not, no support given to those recovering at home [2].

2) The No.1 Man - There are a few ways of dealing with crisis. One of the most important rule is to have a main spokesperson. This spokesperson should be able to give information to the public, be the most informed person on the pandemic, be confident and calm when speaking and can be someone in power or someone with experience in dealing with this [3]. For example, the United States had Dr. Anthony Fauci, a medical expert in the US. He conveyed information about the disease well and gave important information on the virus.

Here in Singapore though, we had not a spokesperson, but a committee. This meant that when conveying information, the committee had contradicting information. For example, here’s a small chart on the three main ministers Gan Kim Yong, Ong Ye Kung and Lawrence Wong making predictions on when Singapore will hit 5000 daily cases

Gan Kim Yong - 2 October 2021 [4]

Lawrence Wong - 27 September 2021 [5]

Ong Ye Kung - 24 September [6]

If we have one specific person (for example, Ong Ye Kung) convey information, we wouldn’t have had a gap of 9 days in predictions.

3) The Plan - Lawrence Wong triggered a massive outrage after saying Singapore is a ‘COVID-naive’ nation and we lacked experience in the beginning of the pandemic, unlike other European countries [7]. Now I am not an expert in this field, but if I critically analysed his speech, he is saying “We made a mistake by doing so well last time that we don’t know how to respond well this time.”

Look I get it. At the beginning, no one knew anything about COVID, whether it was here to stay or not. So it would be unfair for me to curse and to talk sh*t over our past decisions because we know what the outcome is. But if we are COVID-naive, than why didn’t we plan for it? The motto for SG Secure is “Not If, But When”. We pray for the best and plan for the worst. So if we “lacked experience” we should have taken valuable lessons from other European countries and implement them. It seems so unplanned, unready, unprepared. If we had a simple ‘If this > then that” plan in place, we could have saved a bunch of money, saved lives, saved manpower and saved industries. We failed to come up with a plan and therefore, we failed to respond well.

Chapter 2 - My Proposed Solution

(I am NOT an expert)

Here is what I will do if put in-charge of the MMTF from 15 October onwards.

1) Create a playbook - The playbook is for future leaders and other ministers. It is so that if a scenario like this plays out again, there is something the people in the future can use as reference, as a point of note, as a lesson. A simple “If this, then that” approach. Highlighting certain points like Research, Manpower, Cases, Travel etc.

2) Review and Redo - I will immediately have a review of how every dollar was spent throughout COVID-19. And then propose a COVID-19 budget in Parliament. “Money should go towards x, y and z… We will spend more on a, b and c.”. From there, I will present this information via MOH website to the public

3) Vaccination - We have one of the highest vaccination rate in the world. We test around 50-60 thousand people daily. One of my actions will be to open Booster shots for everyone over 12 years of age as long as they are 6 months into their second dose.

4) Test and Trace - I will increase the length of routine testing times from a week to a month. I will also issue 3 test kits per person and strongly encourage Singaporeans to get tested via ART test kits every month or so.

5) Travel Lanes - I will prioritise ASEAN and Asian countries to be put on the list of VTL countries as they are easier for Singaporeans who just want to travel (not for business). Countries include Malaysia (90% of adults already vaccinated), Hong Kong (low cases), Japan (Low cases), New Zealand (OK in response), Maldives (OK in response), Bhutan (Low cases), Macau (Low cases). [8]

6) Reopening Plan - I will immediately create a plan on how Singapore will reopen from October to 2022. The plan will involve rough estimates, costs and dates. My plan will be to advocate for groups of 10 dine-in, 80% of workforce to go back to work, have at least 30 countries on the VTL list, social gatherings of 10 and at least 60% of Singaporeans having three doses of the vaccine.

7) Documentation - As part of transparency of data, I will have MOH report [9] on the following information daily:

- New Cases

- Deaths

- Patients Recovered

- Number of Travellers coming into of Singapore

- ICU, Hospitalised cases

- Age groups of cases

- Number of active clusters + Dangerous clusters

8) Weekly conferences - I will make it a point for an MMTF conference to be held every Friday. This is so that the public is well-informed on every bit of detail.

9) Spokesperson - I will make someone (let’s say Ong Ye Kung) the main spokesperson of the MMTF. This is to ensure that no information contradicts another.

10) Open the floor - I will hosts weekly/ bi-weekly talks with the public at convention centres/ malls/ stadiums/ Community Centres where the public can ask questions on policies/ restrictions etc.

Chapter 3: World Found in Hell (WFH)

COVID-19 is something that most of us have never experienced before. (SARS doesn’t count). And it is the same for our ministers. They went into this like a kid who took his final year exams on his first day of school. To be honest, our healthcare workers are not the only first line of defence, they are also our ministers. Ministers can implement strict restrictions that can impact millions of lives. They are our lifeguards. They can guard our lives or push us further into the waters. Healthcare workers are our first line of defence AT the virus, but ministers are our first line of defence TOWARDS the virus. And to be honest, I would be tired, stressed, fatigued over the situation. While I oppose some actions by the Government, I support them fully (because I have no choice. I’m not starting a revolution) in this fight against COVID-19.

Stay Safe! Follow all SMM seriously! Try your best not to die! We will get through this!