5 ms·

Singapore’s surprising new plan to ‘live with Covid’ revealed

20 points by curmudgeon22 5y ago

vfclists 5y ago
Good sense applied to Covid. Which other countries governments are sensible (some will say bold) enough going to follow? The notion of zero Covid is an absurdity and it has always been. No one ever spoke of zero influenza, so how did zero Covid become a thing?
- bsaul 5y ago
  Something extremely weird happened in 2020 with regard to how that pandemic was handled wordlwide. Time will tell if it was justified, incompetence, or hysteria.
  - version_five 5y ago
    Personally, I think covid is similar to the assassination of Arch Duke Ferdinand: the event precipitated something that was basically going to happen anyway. Covid has become an excuse, political tool, and ideological rallying point for sentiments that have been building for a long time. The powder keg was there, it just needed a match. Thus the "something extremely weird" - it's been much different than just an epidemic occurring in a vacuum.
- throwaway4good 5y ago
  The original SARS was contained and brought to zero. Remember the beginning of the pandemic, a lot of countries thought that they could handle this in the same manner as hard flu season. Essentially "taking it on the chin" as Boris Johnson put it. Now with vaccines, there is a possibility of returning to normalcy without eradicating the virus. Interestingly China has implemented zero-covid, yet is now undergoing a massive vaccination campaign, and my guess they will change their policy at the end of it.
  - vfclists 5y ago
    > The original SARS was contained and brought to zero That is because it caused severe symptoms which required hospitalization within a short time and thus could be quickly contained whereas with Covid symptoms are milder if any at all, and can be spread by both symptomatic and symptomatic infected.is
- thebooktocome 5y ago
  How many countries have infection rates as low as Singapore, and vaccination rates as high?
- underwater 5y ago
  Australia and New Zealand have had extended periods of zero COVID, which has allowed day-to-day life to be largely unaffected by the pandemic. The long term strategy, of course, needs to be vaccination and learning to live with COVID. But, saying elimination is absurd is incorrect.
  - mulvya 5y ago
    Elimination would mean permanent zero COVID, not 'extended periods'. They have been able to have 'extended periods' due to tight border control but that's not 100% effective hence the current lockdowns across Australia triggered by only a handful of cases. When the threshold is that low, there's no predictability hence no promise of stability. That is what makes elimination absurd.
devetec 5y ago
Seems reasonable, however you can make the case that this isn't the course of action that should be taken. But this is Singapore, the country with only 2 infections per 100k people every week. Along with their high vaccination rates, at least compared to nearby nations, at 44.1%, this is a reasonable route that Singapore is choosing to take.
ElViajero 5y ago
> Vaccination was key. So, like the rest of the world. I have heard also this from Spain to Sweden. Once people is vaccinated, things will go back to normal. > no daily numbers This is strange, as there is numbers for other diseases like the flu, so people can know how bad is the season and to take precautions. Maybe, they mean that it will be not broadcasted on TV, that may be possible if the government controls TV stations. In USA and Europe that is up to the news outlets.
- TiberiusC 5y ago
  > Maybe, they mean that it will be not broadcasted on TV Hopefully they mean daily numbers will be broadcasted like flu etc, not spammed hourly and only when providing meaningful, non-fearmongering, reporting.
ArkanExplorer 5y ago
This should have been the plan from the beginning. Singapore has registered 62,000 cases, and only 36 deaths. Its very clear from these statistics that COVID is not a threat in Singapore. The health of the population (very low obesity, generally healthy Asian diets, no poverty) and latitude (easy Vitamin D generation year-round, high humidity) are probably the major factors. The real lesson out of COVID should have been that we need to improve the air and food supply of Western countries. But, I guess big pharma can't make money out of that, and totalitarian political systems can't expand.
pmg102 5y ago
"Singapore has recorded some fully vaccinated locals getting Covid-19, but none of them have had serious symptoms." Fully vaccinated people are hospitalised in the UK every day. Some of them die. I think this sentence misleads. Vaccines do work but their effectiveness is not and was never expected to be 100%.

20 points by curmudgeon22 5y ago

Good sense applied to Covid. Which other countries governments are sensible (some will say bold) enough going to follow? The notion of zero Covid is an absurdity and it has always been. No one ever spoke of zero influenza, so how did zero Covid become a thing?

bsaul 5y ago
Something extremely weird happened in 2020 with regard to how that pandemic was handled wordlwide. Time will tell if it was justified, incompetence, or hysteria.
- version_five 5y ago
  Personally, I think covid is similar to the assassination of Arch Duke Ferdinand: the event precipitated something that was basically going to happen anyway. Covid has become an excuse, political tool, and ideological rallying point for sentiments that have been building for a long time. The powder keg was there, it just needed a match. Thus the "something extremely weird" - it's been much different than just an epidemic occurring in a vacuum.
throwaway4good 5y ago
The original SARS was contained and brought to zero. Remember the beginning of the pandemic, a lot of countries thought that they could handle this in the same manner as hard flu season. Essentially "taking it on the chin" as Boris Johnson put it. Now with vaccines, there is a possibility of returning to normalcy without eradicating the virus. Interestingly China has implemented zero-covid, yet is now undergoing a massive vaccination campaign, and my guess they will change their policy at the end of it.
- vfclists 5y ago
  > The original SARS was contained and brought to zero That is because it caused severe symptoms which required hospitalization within a short time and thus could be quickly contained whereas with Covid symptoms are milder if any at all, and can be spread by both symptomatic and symptomatic infected.is
thebooktocome 5y ago
How many countries have infection rates as low as Singapore, and vaccination rates as high?
underwater 5y ago
Australia and New Zealand have had extended periods of zero COVID, which has allowed day-to-day life to be largely unaffected by the pandemic. The long term strategy, of course, needs to be vaccination and learning to live with COVID. But, saying elimination is absurd is incorrect.
- mulvya 5y ago
  Elimination would mean permanent zero COVID, not 'extended periods'. They have been able to have 'extended periods' due to tight border control but that's not 100% effective hence the current lockdowns across Australia triggered by only a handful of cases. When the threshold is that low, there's no predictability hence no promise of stability. That is what makes elimination absurd.

devetec 5y ago

Seems reasonable, however you can make the case that this isn't the course of action that should be taken. But this is Singapore, the country with only 2 infections per 100k people every week. Along with their high vaccination rates, at least compared to nearby nations, at 44.1%, this is a reasonable route that Singapore is choosing to take.

ElViajero 5y ago

> Vaccination was key. So, like the rest of the world. I have heard also this from Spain to Sweden. Once people is vaccinated, things will go back to normal. > no daily numbers This is strange, as there is numbers for other diseases like the flu, so people can know how bad is the season and to take precautions. Maybe, they mean that it will be not broadcasted on TV, that may be possible if the government controls TV stations. In USA and Europe that is up to the news outlets.

TiberiusC 5y ago
> Maybe, they mean that it will be not broadcasted on TV Hopefully they mean daily numbers will be broadcasted like flu etc, not spammed hourly and only when providing meaningful, non-fearmongering, reporting.

ArkanExplorer 5y ago

This should have been the plan from the beginning. Singapore has registered 62,000 cases, and only 36 deaths. Its very clear from these statistics that COVID is not a threat in Singapore. The health of the population (very low obesity, generally healthy Asian diets, no poverty) and latitude (easy Vitamin D generation year-round, high humidity) are probably the major factors. The real lesson out of COVID should have been that we need to improve the air and food supply of Western countries. But, I guess big pharma can't make money out of that, and totalitarian political systems can't expand.

pmg102 5y ago

"Singapore has recorded some fully vaccinated locals getting Covid-19, but none of them have had serious symptoms." Fully vaccinated people are hospitalised in the UK every day. Some of them die. I think this sentence misleads. Vaccines do work but their effectiveness is not and was never expected to be 100%.