How to control Covid Spread
By: Ravi Kichloo
Tags: Effectiveness, Covid, Singapore, Competence

Here is how some countries are doing it successfully:

Your flight lands. You get out of the plane. There are about 20–30 workers to help you fill the forms, check your papers etc . They segregate you into different groups. Each batch of no more than 10 people get escorted to immigration and to your baggage area. Your baggage is already on the floor, neatly laid out row after row. You pick your bags and the group is led outside to a Bus , which takes you to the designated Hotel.You dont know which one. You get checked in , one family at a time and get to your room. the door shuts and thats where you will remain for the next 14days. Quarrantined.

This whole process from the time you landed to your hotel room has taken less than an hour. Seamless. Smooth. Silent. No unnecessary chatter. You dont ask questions becasue you know you wont get any answers. Answers will come from the relevant people later.

The whole thing is surreal. Me and my wife sit tight . I shut off my eyes and ask myself ” did I commit any crime”. No? Then why am I am feeling strange. wow, this is realy happening . To us. You had heard about something like this But this is how it is. Quarrantine. Soft jail. Isolation. Solitary. Whatever name you want to give it, it is here.

The Hotel is not something you had hoped for. Room is too small. Has no window. No fresh air. I call the reception. Angry. Furious. “ How can we live here for 14 days. My wife has asthma and allergies. She will get sick here” She listens patiently . Obviously well trained. Polite. Asks me to be patient. Shares a link with me. “ Sir kindly fill the form in the link and they will get back to you shortly. I understand how you feel . Please be patient “. Couple of hours later, I get a message “ sorry to hear about your discomfort. Tell us what the issue is”. I do . “ do you have any supporting docs ? from a doctor about your wife’s condition” I do and share it. End of the day we have been approved to a different hotel. 58th floor. Huge room with a balcony and the best view in town. fresh air. All our stress is gone. we now look forward to spending the next 13 days here comfortably.

we are in day 5. two seperate teams check on us. One physically visits us and checks that we are following the required quarrantine. The other is a video call, at a different time to talk to us and check on our status and make sure we are following the required instructions. Hotel staff is polite , courteous, supportive , calling us every once in a while to check if our stay is comfortable and if we need anything. 3 meals a day get served, in disposable bags. we can't touch, speak or look at a staff member. Haven’t seen one in 5 days . You need help? Call the reception. However , you can order online. If you have friends and/or family here, they can send you food, clothes , whatever you need . But they can not visit you.

Whats next? on day 12 we will get a test done. on day 13 the results will come. if negative, on day 14 we are allowed to go home. Exactly what we are hoping for.

In short, everything has been planned for , meticulously. Every little detail has been thought of. Everyone of course has their own experience. But this is our experience. I have lived here for 15 years. And boy, more than ever , am I glad I live in this country right now. Thank you Singapore.

So why all this trouble you might ask ? What about human rights, freedom of speech , individual convenience blah blah blah. Yes what about it? look at the countries where people feel very strongly about all this and the goverments have done what they have done. The results are not great to talk about.

what about Singapore? Results are good. Zero cases in the community for the last 30/40 days. All cases , on a average 10–12 daily, are imported, meaning these are people who are coming to singapore and bringing Covid with them. Thats the reason they are isolated and tracked on a daily basis. Singapore has , to my knowledge, broken the chain of spread. I am not a medical guy. But I am over 60 . Reasonably fit and healthy. Concerned for my life. I am happy to sit in a comfortable hotel room for 14 days if that means I have a better shot at escaping from this virus alive to enjoy whatever years I might have left.

I read about Taiwan and the results are great there too and I am told similar process is followed there as well. I havent gone through that experience. But I am living the singapore experience as I write this .

So is the Singapore govt full of super smart public servants or do they realy look smart when you compare them to the public servants in other countries. For sure they are smart. But they also have the benefit of being a city, state and a country into one. Small size . Yes that helps. But the will and competenece to execute on a strategy is the key with the people here. They execute very very well. Remember we had SARS here. That was a new one at the time and they executed very well even then.

I have long since retired from a regular corporate job and worked in India, Singapore and America and I belong to the group which believes in “ Execution eats Strategy for breakfast” . Remember the famous quote from Mike Tyson ” everyone has a strategy till they get punched in the face”

Bottom line is : Every country had a plan or created a plan but how many executed well? Every well known medical expert begged the governments to do precisely what Singapore is doing so why is the spread so relentless in so many countries.?

Because we human beings dont have any discipline. Vast majority of us anyways. We dont want to follow instructions. We dont like change. We dont like any inconvenience. Its all …dont dont dont. Then we get sucked into politics and religion and digital world messaging ..mostly fake and we start to become doctors ourselves……till it hits home. your family, your siblings family, close friends, relatives. It has hit home for us. My brothers and sisters family got it. Luckily they recovered but not one of the elders. Covid took him away. My batchmate , 61, gone. So many other that I knew of and knew personally , gone.

Makes you wonder why is it so hard for people to follow some simple basic rules? wear a mask, sanitize your hands frequently. Maintain social distancing. avoid parties. Avoid travel.( We are guilty of not being able to avoid travel. Family marriage etc ). But doesnt mean you cant follow the guidlines strictly.

Damn it, its about life and death. But some people wont get it. And they will put others to risk. In situations like these true leadership needs to take charge . Not lip service. Real Leadership.

Sometimes that may mean hard choices that people are forced to have to make, but it is worth the sacrifice.

After all it is about saving lives. Yours and others that you come in contact with.

Stay safe . Stay Healthy.