“Cool, man, cool!” Mdm Ho tells people grumbling about diners’ limits

Singapore — The Prime Minister’s wife seems to have got wind of people complaining about the limits on the number of people who can eat together and has this message for them: Chill out!

“Aiyah!”, was how Mdm Ho, who is also the chief executive of Temasek Holdings, started an Aug 10 Facebook post, a word she repeated several times.

“Why grumble…” she also repeatedly asked, just because people have big families, or big extended families, “and cannot sit at one table to eat together outside the home?” 

“We can all eat at home together, right?” she added.

These “small inconveniences” are but temporary, and are for the “sake of the larger good for only a few more months.” 

“Aw, come on, folks!”

With her characteristic straight-talking style, she acknowledged that many are tired of Covid restrictions, but reminded the public of all the frontline healthcare workers who “have been at this for months and months, in tougher conditions, all togged up in PPEs (personal protective equipment). 

And if they can’t “throw in their towels, and yelp why not, why not, why not let us go back to normal, care free life,” then “surely, the rest of us away from the frontlines, can and should find ways to do keep within the latest rules,” she admonished.

Instead, she encouraged people to get “creative” and “bring fun and joy of living for our kids and our family and friends, as we surely can, without necessarily insisting on dining in big diverse groups in restaurants, right?”

“Cool, man, cool!

Chill, girl, chill!,” she added.

Mdm Ho then went on to explain why more people may be allowed in trains, but not in restaurants. 

The answer, she wrote, is “Simple!” because of the air cleaning systems in trains that allow air to be changed between “10 to 14 times an hour.  This is like having a whole train of clean air every 5-6 minutes.”

This is comparable to infectious disease isolation wards, which get clean air every five minutes.

This type of system is not available in most restaurants, where air is simply recirculated, which “allows aerosol particles to accumulate, including aerosol particles carrying infectious virus,” she added.

And even larger eateries with central air-conditioning units only have air change equivalent every 10 to 15 minutes. 

The cost of equipping all restaurants with better air changing systems is too high. /TISG

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