Ho Ching explains why gov’t isn’t calling for another Circuit Breaker despite growing Covid cases

Singapore — In a Sept 20 Facebook post, Madam Ho Ching addressed the issue of why a strict lockdown has not been called despite the high number of recent Covid-19 cases.

On Sunday, there were 1,012 new infections, the highest daily count since Apr 23, 2020, when there were 1,037 new infections. 

The high number of new cases may seem alarming to some, leading Mdm Ho, the wife of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and the outgoing CEO of Temasek Holdings, to say that some people have been wondering why the “govt is not stopping all activities and go into a circuit breaker mode now or as soon as possible.”

Others, she wrote, have asked: “what level of community cases is needed before the MTF decides on heightened alert or circuit breaker.”

The difference now is vaccinations, wrote Mdm Ho, calling it a “huge” advantage that over 90 per cent of younger age groups now having received two Covid vaccine shots, and those who are age 70 and older at almost the same per cent fully vaccinated as well.

“We had zero vaccinations last year,” she wrote as a reminder, adding that “old methods from last year when we didn’t have vaccines” should not be used, nor should we “start to frighten ourselves this year.”

Mdm Ho explained that due to the vaccines, risks are lower this year, but the risk of severe illness is “still exponential, and tightly coupled with the rise in new infections.” 

What needs to happen is to “flatten out the rise,” which would also “flatten out the risk to the vulnerable among us,” although reducing the case to zero would be “wishful thinking.”

However, she warned against people becoming blasé or complacent, as vaccines are no longer a foolproof guarantee against infection or serious illness.

A better goal would be to reverse the daily rise in new cases, something she called “simple.”

“We don’t have to wait for rules and regulations to do the right thing….The rest of us can help by slowing down the pace of our makan and drinking sessions with different buddies. 

It is when we meet with different buddies and friends on different days, that we increase the diversity and frequency of contacts with diverse people that we give the virus a chance to spread faster to many more people, even when we are vaccinated.”

Mdm Ho also suggested taking a break of two weeks in between meeting different groups for mask-down activities for “perhaps 4 weeks before we see any impact on the new community case numbers.”

She then added, “We will need to be disciplined to continue a measured pace of social mixing, for at least the next 2 months, and then we can begin to calibrate how much and how fast to ease off. 

How about it, folks?

We can do all these without having to wait for someone to make it a rule for us, right?

Let’s not fret, let’s not wail, let’s not whine. 

Let’s just be adult about doing the right thing, calmly, for ourselves, for our neighbours, for our friends and family, for everyone living among us.”  /TISG

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