I presently live in Singapore and write this from government required 2 weeks isolation, staying in a hotel room I cannot leave, fed cheap local food 3 times a day and required to report back to a required phone app every 4 hours. Why? Because I had to travel to Europe for a family funeral and that is the price to pay for my return to Singapore. Yes, because this little unpleasant experience is at my charge of USD2000.
However, the reality is as follows:
Out of 83 thousand travellers who entered Singapore since June 18, 152 cases of covid were detected, 8 out of 10 coming from India and the Philippines. Which means that the remaining 4 cases could be coming from anywhere else in the world!
Singapore suffered 27 deaths since the start of covid, all over 60 years old, some over 80 years old. Yet, 6300 people died from the flu in 2018, 2000 people have gotten dengue fever in the months because of the early confinement rules preventing the usual weekly fumigation...
My trip to Europe was enlightening. At Zurich airport nearly half of the people in the airport were not wearing masks, because they are not mandatory in Switzerland.
In Spain, no one wears masks in bars and restaurants, none of them have distancing rules. Maybe 65% wear them in the streets. In the south of France, no one wears masks or respect distancing rules, except when going in stores, where everyone wears their masks. In Paris, maybe 90% of the people wear masks when in the streets.
Of course covid cases and deaths are much higher in Europe than Singapore. Demographics also show that most are from elderly people and the way southern European keep their elderlies in medically assisted and end of life homes. When covid hit them, they all died.
Ultimately, like the video above shows, we have to decide if we want a Singapore like response or a European or American or another. There are valid arguments from all sides. It seems to me preposterous to shut down economic activity and force people in lock down for extended periods yet, people ought to be responsible enough, civic minded enough to wear their mask when in public and keep distances from each other. Anything else is pure selfishness.
