Just when the Western world is showing a drop in cases and more relaxation of restrictions, Omicron hit Asia like a ton of bricks. The delayed wave swept over most Asian countries in a matter of days as new records were made every day.
Authorities have been warning about this for weeks and we had seen it hammering Europe and America since late Dec as new positive cases surged to new highs never seen before over the last 2 years of the Covid nightmare. Thankfully, we had the vaccine rollout for more than a year now and death rates are much lower than in 2020.
The last 24 months of paranoia that had seized everyone have conditioned us to panic if we see rising trends. Media news on hospitalizations and filled to capacity ICU wards have kept many of us locked in our rooms for days on end trying to weather the next variant.
It still came as a surprise and we were shocked at how fast the cases were doubling within days this week. Omicron is 7 times more contagious than Delta but thankfully it exhibits mild symptoms and does not attack the lungs that much. Vaccination protection had resulted in fewer hospitalizations for those fully vaccinated together with a booster. Sadly, a majority of hospitalizations and deaths are still concentrated on the unvaccinated.
The anti-vaxxers rally cry has now changed to become a fight against compulsory vaccine mandates and the right to choose. That contracting the virus will provide antibodies the natural way and give future immunity to new strains. My body, my choice. Well, I guess their wish will now be fulfilled. Governments are starting to relax the restrictions and the vaccine mandates have been stopped in court. They now have a right to choose possible death over science/facts. The authorities are probably tired of trying to convince the remaining hardcore minority to get the vaccine and decided that it’s best to leave them alone.
The worrying thing is that history had shown that this may not be a wise move. The 1918 pandemic showed that after 2 years, they had let their guard down and relaxed restrictions. That subsequently resulted in a new surge into the 3rd year. Omicron variant 2 (Ba2) is also starting to show itself in countries like Denmark and rising fast to overtake the original Omicron mutation.
Many in the world also do not have access to the vaccines yet, so there is a high probability that further mutations can still occur to produce a new variant. The hope is that Covid is evolving to a milder strain like Omicron over time as the virus strive to survive and perpetuate itself like the common flu. Hence we will all be expected to get it eventually as natural herd immunity kicks in. Meanwhile, with modern science and vaccines, we can lessen the evolutionary impact of the virus and transit from pandemic to endemic status.
The signs of the new Omicron wave came fast to us on a personal level. It started in late Dec with our experience of an overseas infection from my son as he headed back to S’pore. Then we had the Chinese New Year holidays and within 2 weeks, the virus came fast and furious to our communities.
My wife’s relative caught it and then it was passed within the household to an elderly person who had to be sent to the designated facility as she is above 80 years old as per required Covid protocols. Within a week, another member of the household had it.
Over the last weekend, my brother-in-law tested positive and isolated himself at home as his symptoms were mild. Then on Wed, my sis called me with the news that my mum has it. She is 88 this year and we panicked initially as we were at a loss on what we had to do.
By now, the hospitals are overwhelmed with cases and new directives had to be implemented to lessen the flood of patients utilizing the medical resources. We scrambled to get the latest updates online on what to do next. It directed her age group to see a doctor asap, do a PCR test and then obtain further instructions after that. Meanwhile, she was allowed to quarantine at home.
The PCR SMS results came back positive the next morning and her details plus those in the same household had to be shared with the central authorities tracking Covid. A Health Risk Notice was subsequently issued to my dad who was living in the same household.
Due to the surge in cases (from 1k to 19k), my mum was eventually allowed to continue her quarantine at home. Just a few days before, my wife’s elderly aunt was sent to the hospital for observation for a few days before being moved to the S’pore Expo to sit out her extended isolation requirement. The regulations are becoming dynamic as it changes every day. It is tough on the authorities as they have to think and react on their toes.
Just look at HK now. Omicron is really testing their zero Covid plan now. As they had to align themselves to the same strategy as the motherland, the rapid spread of the virus is stressing the medical resources to the max. They never had a full lockdown before and it seems that they may now have to do so. Xi had also ordered Carrie Lam to stop it at all cost. Since China had locked down and tested cities with millions of residents, HK will do the same soon to test the whole 7.5 million population.
Meanwhile, my student days continue. My Fintech course is pushing me deeper into more technical stuff this week. I need to do a crash course on the JavaScript programming language, figure out how to do a project on displaying cards using Bootstrap, understand how to use Git, Github and React.
This is a bit steep for a non-IT marketing person like me and I am starting to get regular nightmares trying to figure out how to cramp all this new knowledge into my uncle brain in such a short time. The trainer even cautioned that it takes lots of practice and time to learn to program. And we have only weeks to learn how to link the front, middle and back end together using so many tools. Positive stress is good as I keep telling myself…
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