On Friday, the 24th of September 2021, Singapore announced another change in safety measures with regards to the COVID-19 situation. Once again, we would be back to two people gatherings from the initial five people rule, from the 27th. Primary schools and the majority of middle schools would go into home based learning, while high schools would be on a state of high alert. Masks continue to be mandatory. It seems backward from where we started, but nothing has really changed.
Singapore has been fluctuating between these rules for quite some time now. On the 8th of May, Singapore first introduced the five person cap, but since then, rules have been flicking back and forth between the two and five person caps on group sizes. That’s not to mention the “Circuit Breaker” period last year in 2020, where everyone was confined to their houses for nearly 3 months.
Yet cases still haven’t gone down, and the new Delta variant is continuing to make the situation worse. At the end of August, we had about 120 cases daily and a total of 50 deaths since the start of the pandemic. Now, at the end of September, these numbers have increased significantly to over 1,500 cases daily (with the daily average increasing) and a total of 70 deaths. While the increase in deaths may not seem significant, keep in mind that by the end of 2020, nearly a year after the pandemic made its way to Singapore, we had 29 deaths, and now the Delta variant has caused fatalities to increase by 20 in just a single month.
On the other hand, places around the world are opening up, such as places in Europe and the United States, making mask-wearing optional, allowing larger social gatherings and letting people from around the world visit their country. It seems life is back to normal everywhere in the world but in Singapore, where travelling is a hassle considering the two-week quarantine one would have to go through before being properly allowed back into the country. Some have compared it to prison, with the confinement taking a mental and emotional toll as they are unable to visit loved ones around the world.
Several friends that I’ve talked to mention how tired they are of the restrictions, and how much they want to get out and live a life that isn’t overflowing with masks and restrictions. Many believe that cases are, funnily enough, increasing in Singapore due to the precautions being taken. I’ve heard some of my friends express their immense frustration, saying that “it’ll never end”.
Originally, my opinion about these restrictions was that they were important, as I thought it important that we first try to reduce cases and then travel safely and freely. In retrospect, however, I was only really considering my point of view - I didn’t think about the economic impact on businesses, especially small ones, or the impact on others. Now, it’s become apparent that after a year and a half of not being able to see family and friends in other parts of the world for many people in Singapore, the emotional impact is becoming harder and harder to bear.
With restrictions returning to 2 people cap sizes, it’s incredibly difficult to meet up with other people within Singapore as well. It’s becoming harder to connect and function as a society, like we did before. Then again, circumstances have never been this way, either. The million-dollar question is: for how much longer will this go on?
Do we need to continue closing ourselves off from the rest of the world AND each other, given that the number of cases are this high? Will temporarily harming businesses and other relevant entities work in our favour in the long run? With Singapore trying its best to balance the economy and wellbeing of its citizens, these questions are becoming increasingly complex to answer. In a time of such uncertainty, it’s difficult to predict, but it’s clear for some time we will have to embrace this as the new normal. If we open restrictions too early, it could increase cases to the point where a second Circuit Breaker is needed, which would throw us back to square one. But mentally and emotionally, these restrictions are taking its toll. Tackling COVID-19 and the Delta variant has proven to be a dilemma that Singapore has yet to be able to solve.
Website used:
Comments