I feel that we are now living in a limbo world with newer unknowns and the inertia to move forward. Crunch time is approaching where brave decisions have to be made.
Firstly, we are more than 9 months into vaccines but everything has been disrupted by Delta and the soon to be arriving Delta Plus. Breakthrough cases of vaccinated people are to be expected but the recent surge happening around the world is disconcerting. Where do we go from here?
The S’pore government had decided to extend the lockdown by another month this week as rising cases seems to be stabilizing but fatalities remain high by our standards. Things seem to be getting out of whack and some implemented processes are becoming illogical. We are opening more VTL (Vaccinated Travel Lanes) with countries but yet we still only allow a maximum of only 2 persons to dine out. Families are unable to eat out at a single table. The fear and siege mentality are still pretty much amongst us.
The authorities are saying that they are worried about reaching the maximum hospitalization capacity and increasing Covid deaths. But the data clearly shows that (1) It is now mainly a pandemic of the unvaccinated and (2) the most vulnerable high-risk group taking up the ICU beds and dying are those above 60 years of age.
If that is the case, then we should attack the problems that are the root causes. We should get the high risk (>60) vaccinated group to take their booster shots asap – which is happening right now as we speak. Then mandate vaccination for all the above 60 who remains unvaccinated to save as many lives as possible. There is about 80k of those above 60 that remain unvaccinated. Most are probably not working and not well informed. If it is made compulsory to take it, most will follow the government ruling. Not having the shots and getting Covid now, coupled with old age comorbidities can be a death warrant for many. This is preventable.
For the rest of the unvaccinated numbering 6% of the population (excluding those below 12 who currently do not have access to the vaccine), further movement restrictions will equate to having their own personal self-quarantine. They already cannot visit malls or eat at hawker centres. Work mandates that are happening around the world will likely be coming here soon too. This had convinced the fence-sitters to choose to have a livelihood over vaccine hesitancy.
On the other hand, it is understandable that parents are worried about the long term effects of the vaccine on their kids. Based on the available data to date, they can still afford to have a wait and see attitude as a majority of children do have mild Covid and recover. But the effect of long Covid on children is still unknown. It is a tough call for them to make. The 12 to 18 years old had started the vaccination, so perhaps more data will be available soon to make a better judgement call for the 5 to 11 years old group.
For the rest of us, the majority are now vaccinated at about 85%. If we remove the number of kids below 12 where vaccination is still not available, the balance of 15% unvaccinated is reduced to around 6%. This unvaccinated minority of 6% should not hold the rest of us as hostages due to their various thinking or beliefs. We have enough lockdowns and Covid fatigue to want to return to a sense of normalcy. Reopening is inevitable as we move towards an endemic strategy. Eventually, all of us are likely to get Covid at some point in the future, it will be a mild reaction like the common flu that is also treatable with medication.
I am currently waiting for my turn to receive the booster shot. The last 4 weeks of lockdown is starting to condition me into being a full home body. Going out for more than half a day seems strange and uncomfortable after almost 2 years of this pandemic. All our worlds have been turned upside down and the mental health of many have been stressed tremendously.
The rapid adoption of technology has been a saving grace for the functioning of our economy. Personally, I completed a full time 6 months of classroom training this year that was totally online. I had only met my classmates once face to face. We had project discussions, exams and classes in the comfort of our homes. My wardrobe has now shrunk to just a few T-shirts and shorts. That is all I need in this new world order.
We are tired now and want to return to some form of the old normal, if we can even remember it, to preserve our sanity. Food prices are rising and supply chains are also choking globally. Energy prices are rising into wintertime and the flu season can be tough as the weather gets colder. Continous government subsidies tapping on reserves (if any) or living on borrowed (printing) monies had flooded the markets with fiat currencies to the point where our future is being compromised as we kick the can down the road.
I sincerely hope that the authorities can zero in on the root causes of the heightened fatalities and overcrowding of the hospitals to address them. Please do not keep the majority hostage even as the rest of the world reopens up aggressively. We do know much more now about the virus than a year ago. We need to confront the situation and make newer and braver decisions now. Two steps forward and one step back may be required to finetune the work in process strategy, but it is simply not acceptable to take one step forward and two steps backwards.
Leave a Reply