Singapore Expats

People still without masks

Discuss about the latest news & interesting topics, real life experience or other out of topic discussions with locals & expatriates in Singapore.
Post Reply
Lisafuller
Governor
Governor
Posts: 6211
Joined: Sat, 07 Nov 2020 11:45 pm
Answers: 3

Re: People still without masks

Post by Lisafuller » Sat, 27 Mar 2021 1:16 am

BigginHill wrote:
Thu, 25 Mar 2021 3:48 pm
Meanwhile, masks are now completely optional in Sydney & rest of NSW. I believe it's the same in several other Oz states & territories...

NO more masks as major changes are made to NSW's coronavirus rules

No such luck here.
NZ has been particularly impressive, they are completely COVID free.

BigginHill
Chatter
Chatter
Posts: 195
Joined: Mon, 22 May 2017 5:46 pm
Answers: 1

Re: People still without masks

Post by BigginHill » Sat, 27 Mar 2021 1:35 am

BBCDoc wrote:
Fri, 26 Mar 2021 5:58 am
Have to decide if you prefer that type of uncertainty versus wearing masks and the Singapore way for now...
Honestly, at this point I think I'd prefer the Oz way - one year plus of constant restrictions in Singapore versus a couple of snap local restrictions in NSW & WA.

Outdoor face masks 24/7 is just a constant in-your-face reminder (literally) of our fairly heavy handed set of restrictions - any kind of multi-hour daytime outdoor activity gets badly impacted; would be nice if at least parks didn't require masks, similar to HK.

Or maybe I'm just getting fed up being stuck here for so long.

I don't envy the Melbourne lockdown though, that one was outright brutal - a similar scenario should be avoided at all costs.

x9200
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 10073
Joined: Mon, 07 Sep 2009 4:06 pm
Location: Singapore

Re: People still without masks

Post by x9200 » Sat, 27 Mar 2021 1:19 pm

BigginHill wrote:
Sat, 27 Mar 2021 1:35 am
BBCDoc wrote:
Fri, 26 Mar 2021 5:58 am
Have to decide if you prefer that type of uncertainty versus wearing masks and the Singapore way for now...
Honestly, at this point I think I'd prefer the Oz way - one year plus of constant restrictions in Singapore versus a couple of snap local restrictions in NSW & WA.

Outdoor face masks 24/7 is just a constant in-your-face reminder (literally) of our fairly heavy handed set of restrictions - any kind of multi-hour daytime outdoor activity gets badly impacted; would be nice if at least parks didn't require masks, similar to HK.

Or maybe I'm just getting fed up being stuck here for so long.

I don't envy the Melbourne lockdown though, that one was outright brutal - a similar scenario should be avoided at all costs.
It looks like more and more long term problems are reported for people who have recovered from the virus and it is not about those who really got seriously sick but for mild or even asymptomatic cases. Not sure if this only for the British strain but I read reports where up to 33% of those mild and asymptomatic recovered had more or less severe cardiac and other problems. Australia had ++500k confirmed cases, Singapore ++60k, mostly in dormitories. Taking into account these long lasting problem, not sure if the Oz way is what I would prefer.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-021-01283-z

BigginHill
Chatter
Chatter
Posts: 195
Joined: Mon, 22 May 2017 5:46 pm
Answers: 1

Re: People still without masks

Post by BigginHill » Sat, 27 Mar 2021 1:41 pm

x9200 wrote:
Sat, 27 Mar 2021 1:19 pm
Australia had ++500k confirmed cases, Singapore ++60k, mostly in dormitories.
Australia had +29k confirmed cases, less than half of SG.

(Austria <> Australia :D)
Last edited by BigginHill on Sat, 27 Mar 2021 1:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

x9200
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 10073
Joined: Mon, 07 Sep 2009 4:06 pm
Location: Singapore

Re: People still without masks

Post by x9200 » Sat, 27 Mar 2021 1:44 pm

BigginHill wrote:
Sat, 27 Mar 2021 1:41 pm
x9200 wrote:
Sat, 27 Mar 2021 1:19 pm
Australia had ++500k confirmed cases, Singapore ++60k, mostly in dormitories.
Australia had +29k confirmed cases, less than half of SG.
Oops. I stand corrected. This changes a lot.

x9200
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 10073
Joined: Mon, 07 Sep 2009 4:06 pm
Location: Singapore

Re: People still without masks

Post by x9200 » Sat, 27 Mar 2021 1:45 pm

On the other hand, not sure how would it go in the dense, highly populated urban environment of Singapore.

User avatar
sundaymorningstaple
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 40376
Joined: Thu, 11 Nov 2004 1:26 pm
Answers: 21
Location: Retired on the Little Red Dot

Re: People still without masks

Post by sundaymorningstaple » Sat, 27 Mar 2021 1:52 pm

x9200 wrote:
Sat, 27 Mar 2021 1:44 pm
BigginHill wrote:
Sat, 27 Mar 2021 1:41 pm
x9200 wrote:
Sat, 27 Mar 2021 1:19 pm
Australia had ++500k confirmed cases, Singapore ++60k, mostly in dormitories.
Australia had +29k confirmed cases, less than half of SG.
Oops. I stand corrected. This changes a lot.
Out of just over 60K covid infections in Singapore, 58K were in the crowded dormitory conditions for construction workers, so if one were to take out that anomaly from the statistics, then your original hypothesis still stands.
https://www.reuters.com/article/health- ... SKBN28P0E1
SOME PEOPLE TRY TO TURN BACK THEIR ODOMETERS. NOT ME. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY I LOOK THIS WAY. I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, AND SOME OF THE ROADS WEREN'T PAVED. ~ Will Rogers

BigginHill
Chatter
Chatter
Posts: 195
Joined: Mon, 22 May 2017 5:46 pm
Answers: 1

Re: People still without masks

Post by BigginHill » Sat, 27 Mar 2021 1:54 pm

Well - if there's no local infection in the community, people can live as close as they'd like.

What I believe is Australia's achilles heel, is their quarantine arrangements - we've seen repeated leakage, in both Oz & NZ. Also they've got far less hotel quarantine capacity than SG.

SG seems to handle quarantine management extremely well. Also most frontliners in travel & quarantine management have been vaccinated already.

x9200
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 10073
Joined: Mon, 07 Sep 2009 4:06 pm
Location: Singapore

Re: People still without masks

Post by x9200 » Sat, 27 Mar 2021 1:54 pm

BigginHill wrote:
Sat, 27 Mar 2021 1:41 pm
x9200 wrote:
Sat, 27 Mar 2021 1:19 pm
Australia had ++500k confirmed cases, Singapore ++60k, mostly in dormitories.
Australia had +29k confirmed cases, less than half of SG.

(Austria <> Australia :D)
Yes. I went to the https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries page, hit crt-F, typed aus and without paying any attention read the number to the right :)

BigginHill
Chatter
Chatter
Posts: 195
Joined: Mon, 22 May 2017 5:46 pm
Answers: 1

Re: People still without masks

Post by BigginHill » Sat, 27 Mar 2021 1:56 pm

sundaymorningstaple wrote:
Sat, 27 Mar 2021 1:52 pm
Out of just over 60K covid infections in Singapore, 58K were in the crowded dormitory conditions for construction workers, so if one were to take out that anomaly from the statistics, then your original hypothesis still stands.
https://www.reuters.com/article/health- ... SKBN28P0E1
We had repeated leakage from the dorms into the wider community - also quite a few workers quarters were outside the dorms, so we need to be careful cherry picking the numbers.

Anyway, that's all in the past - it'll be interesting to see how vaccines enter the equation going forward.

x9200
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 10073
Joined: Mon, 07 Sep 2009 4:06 pm
Location: Singapore

Re: People still without masks

Post by x9200 » Sat, 27 Mar 2021 2:02 pm

BigginHill wrote:
Sat, 27 Mar 2021 1:54 pm
Well - if there's no local infection in the community, people can live as close as they'd like.
But they were so perhaps the Oz way is good at present but not when there was the 1st and 2nd wave?
How do they prevented the 3rd wave? Most of EU countries have it rather bad and this is the effect of the British strain and late measures to limit the import from the UK.

BBCDoc
Chatter
Chatter
Posts: 478
Joined: Tue, 05 Oct 2010 11:21 pm
Location: Singapore

People still without masks

Post by BBCDoc » Sat, 27 Mar 2021 3:04 pm

Hoping Oz and NZ can move towards total vaccine coverage to preserve their maskless lifestyle. Not 100% guarantee, but should significantly reduce the risk of future cluster transmissions, unless you get a variant that overcomes the vaccine (seems to be a few that require scrutiny arising in India).

Biggest problem will be mild COVID cases that can still infect vaccinated people. We don’t know if such variants will also trigger future thrombotic / cardiac events. If that’s the case, you’ll see inexplicable spikes in population cases that result in overwhelming ICU since there is no real countermeasures for secondary complications arising from own immune response....that can be a spectacular hypothetical shitstorm.

Btw, there’s a lot of info surrounding infection of pets and animals with C19. Don’t hear any concerns in Oz or NZ. I keep joking someone needs to test the sheep...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
There's always room for one more

the observer
Reporter
Reporter
Posts: 595
Joined: Mon, 20 Jul 2020 11:57 am
Answers: 1

Re: People still without masks

Post by the observer » Sun, 28 Mar 2021 7:48 am

Chile.
Vaccine leader.
Back to alarming rates of infection.

Hi Fives and pats on the back in end February.
Back to lockdown this week.

BBCDoc
Chatter
Chatter
Posts: 478
Joined: Tue, 05 Oct 2010 11:21 pm
Location: Singapore

Re: People still without masks

Post by BBCDoc » Sun, 28 Mar 2021 3:38 pm

Thanks for that info, I haven’t paid much attention to LATAM. Wonder which vaccine they used to vaccinate 6m people...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
There's always room for one more

User avatar
malcontent
Manager
Manager
Posts: 2613
Joined: Sat, 22 Dec 2007 11:52 am
Answers: 8
Location: Pulau Ujong

Re: People still without masks

Post by malcontent » Sun, 28 Mar 2021 7:17 pm

Chile is mostly using CoronaVac, also known as the Sinovac. I think that might explain a lot.
Every great and deep difficulty bears in itself its own solution. It forces us to change our thinking in order to find it - Niels Bohr

Post Reply
  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post

Return to “General Discussions”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 21 guests