REACH 306 - What are your views on the Singapore’s latest response to the Omicron, in particular the continuation of current safe management measures, and the need for individuals to get their booster shots to maintain their fully vaccinated status? (SK)

07 Jan 2022 (10am - 7pm)

REACH

[6:00 pm, 06/01/2022] +REACH: 

More: https://str.sg/wgaX

[9:44 am, 07/01/2022] +REACH: Dear Contributors,

Welcome back! 😊

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Megan 😊

[10:04 am, 07/01/2022] +REACH: 📢 Topic 📢 

Singapore's current set of Covid-19 safe management rules will stay in place during the upcoming Chinese New Year period from Feb 1, in view of a likely surge of infections brought about by the new Omicron variant, said Minister Lawrence Wong on Wednesday (Jan 5).  But he added: “In the event that the healthcare system comes under tremendous pressure, then as a last resort, we may have no choice but to tighten some of our measures.”

From Feb 14, those aged 18 and above will have to take a booster shot within 270 days of completing their primary vaccination series in order to maintain a fully vaccinated status against COVID-19, said the Ministry of Health on Wednesday (Jan 5). 

💬 What are your views on the Singapore’s latest response to the Omicron, in particular the continuation of current safe management measures, and the need for individuals to get their booster shots to maintain their fully vaccinated status?

Director of medical services Kenneth Mak said a worst case scenario may see Singapore recording as many as 15,000 cases a day at the peak of the Omicron wave, as he urged people to take their booster jab when it is offered to them.

"We urge as many people as possible who are eligible to come forward and receive their booster vaccinations as soon as possible... (as) this is important to mitigate the risk of waning antibody levels that can occur over time and to boost the vaccine-derived protection against severe infection, reducing the risk of being infected by Delta or Omicron variants," said Prof Mak.

He added that Singapore is still seeing Delta infections, and not just Omicron, therefore getting vaccinated and boosted can protect against both variants.

👉🏼 https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/current-covid-19-rules-will-stay-during-cny-period-in-view-of-omicron-wave-lawrence-wong

👉🏼 https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/booster-shot-must-be-taken-within-270-days-after-2nd-dose-to-remain-fully-vaccinated

👉🏼 https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/hospitals-well-able-to-deal-with-increase-in-covid-19-cases-icu-occupancy-at-7-per-cent

👉🏼 https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/tightened-border-measures-helped-buy-time-to-prepare-healthcare-system-for-covid-19-omicron-variant-lawrence-wong

👉🏼 https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/114-of-children-between-5-and-11-years-old-got-at-least-one-dose-of-covid-19-vaccine

👉🏼 https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/omicron-less-severe-gps-key-in-deciding-which-covid-19-patients-require-closer-supervision

-----

[10:12 am, 07/01/2022] +Caleb: Then why allow 50% to go back work?

[10:12 am, 07/01/2022] +Caleb: To expedite the Wave to come?

[10:14 am, 07/01/2022] +Timothy Low: Even though Chinese made up the majority of the entire Singapore population, the way how the newspaper agency reported on this matter sounded like special considerations were made for CNY only (and not for other major festivals of other races). Personally I feel we got to be sensitive how we report on this matter

[10:24 am, 07/01/2022] +Joseph: Going to hijack this conversation for a bit to respond to a few comments that i did not have a chance to do so before the chat was closed the last time...

[10:24 am, 07/01/2022] +Joseph: I personally think the idea of trickle down economics is not what some hype it out to be. Anyway, if you are so passionate about helping the poor/needy, don't need to wait for the Govt to do it. Donate your $ directly to the many Charitable Organisations in SG. There are those that you can even offset against your Income Tax - up to 2.5x tax deductable. You can also volunteer your time/energy if $ is an issue. If that is also "not possible", how about just buying a drink/a meal once in a while for a random poor person you come across? Irritates the hell out of me when I hear people (whom I assume) are just making a lot of grand/generous sounding comments about how we should be doing more to help the poor/needy when what they are actually saying, is SOMEONE ELSE (other than themselves) shoud be helping....

[10:24 am, 07/01/2022] +Joseph: Not an insult. Just stating facts. Don't be offended/insulted by facts/truths.

[10:25 am, 07/01/2022] +Joseph: Then the tax rate will probably have to be adjusted higher to account for the lower Net (rather than gross) Income that will be taxed 😂

[10:26 am, 07/01/2022] +Joseph: I could have said the same about you and "~a"

[10:31 am, 07/01/2022] +JC: Understandable to paint the worst case scenario upfront... one month is a long time for COVID situation to change. Lets see how it develops in the next 4 weeks.

[10:33 am, 07/01/2022] +Joseph: I am just guessing here .... but maybe bacause:

1. There had not been as many clusters arising from workplaces as there had been elsewhere

2. Facemasks, safe-distancing measures at workplace; Some level of monitoring to ensure compliance

3. Most people will be interacting with the same group of co-workers at their workplace, limiting risk of cross-infections compared to increased risk from interactions with friends/relatives who will potentially be interacting with multiple groups of people, who themselves are also interacting with more other groups from multiple CNY visitations

[10:47 am, 07/01/2022] +BL: Because we need that to keep the economy going, to keep morale at work, and keep business active. It is a risk yes, so we have to minimise risk elsewhere.

[10:48 am, 07/01/2022] +Joseph: I think the G/MOH should start phasing out free hospitalisation care for anyone and everyone who turns up at our Hospitals with CV19 infections/symptoms. Only subsidise (in full) patients that really need hospitalisation - critical care/oxygen supplement or some other matrix as defined by medical authorities as absolutely necessary.

I suspect (and I may be wrong) a number of people are turning up at our Hospitals insisting to be admitted even though their symptoms are mild and insisting on being admitted because it is FREE, taking up precious capacity that someone else may actually need, and at the same time, resulting in TIGHTENING OF MEASURES in anticipation of a lack of hospital bed/capacity if cases continue to rise. It should be quite obvious to most of us now, that a key matrix that G/MOH is watching to decide on whether to tighten/relax measures, is hospital capacity.

Take that - free for all CV19 hospital care - away and if the hospital utilisation drops even as new infections rise, then we will have gotten the answer to the question of whether part of the problem with hospital capacity, is kiasu-ism.

[10:48 am, 07/01/2022] +BL: Decisions taken so far have proved to be in good judgement (bar some exceptions). Whilst I am keen to open up more, I am supportive of caution. Clearly the vaccine programme is critical and might require on-going bi-annual jabs. We have to accept that now. My hope is that by Summer everyone is vax'd and boosted and we can open up more to tourists.

[10:51 am, 07/01/2022] +Joseph: true too ... heartland malls/businesses probably faring better with people WFH, but I observed many businesses shuttering in the Business Districts as footfall and customer base shrink.

[10:52 am, 07/01/2022] +Joseph: esp. F&B

[10:55 am, 07/01/2022] +JkL: Do you know how heavy the burden for   one person work support family or low/income if covid no free?

[11:02 am, 07/01/2022] +JC: I think he means only charge those who don't need to be hospitalized (can recover at home) but INSIST on being hospitalized...

[11:10 am, 07/01/2022] +Joseph: I didn't say don't subsidise anything. I suggested taking away full subsidy for frivolous requests to be hospitalised for CV19. 

People are complaining about a $10 ART kit. I suspect all the G/MOH needs to do is charge a $50/day fee (instead of FREE) for people who actually do not need to be hospitalised but INSIST on being so, since it is FREE.

Yes, G/MOH has guidelines for their admissions staff for Covid patients coming in, but will you surprised that a tired/weary staff would rather just admit anyone who asked to be admitted - or risk getting shouted/scolded/threatened - by a kiasu "patient"? End of the day, if I were the admission staff, I will just admit everyone who asks for it .. so that it fills up quickly - with less sick patients, easier to care for as well - and then the next one who turns up, easier to turn them away, because just have to say, hospital is FULL, 

Read, think, repeat, before replying instantly. No prizes for quick responses,. Save yourself the trouble of getting angry due to misunderstanding/misreading a message.

[11:11 am, 07/01/2022] +Joseph: 👍😊

[11:12 am, 07/01/2022] +RH: Apologies,  gg to hijack this for a bit..  

To talk abt the redemption of SRP vouchers... 

It was a really BIG HASSLE for many of my frens (and me)  to either Redeem or Donate the unused vouchers.  .

Logging onto the website to Donate was an even greater "joke" , as even a web-savvy person like me got stumped by the myriad of qns upon qns tt had to be answered b4 we even got to select the item of choice. 

On top of tt,  there were NO proper Instructions on how to navigate the sites to donate. 

Many of my frens gave up.  🤦🏼‍♀️

Purely out of frustration. 

In the first place,  giving the SRP vouchers was not a bad idea but the execution of redemption of it was a "joke" & badly executed,  not even thot through at all,  let alone well thot thru!!  

Ther was no Central body to co-ordinate the services of the various operators. 

If it was so tedious to set one up,  then the Gov shd not hv given out the vouchers,  no matter how well intentioned it was. 

As a result of the redemption process not having bn fine tuned,  the Donation process was Worse! 

How were we to know tt we had so many steps to do just to donate a balance of $10? 

We had to firstly redeem the voucher from the operator, then go & click Donate... 

Hello!!!  ????

Why make us jump thru so many hoops just to do our part for charity?  

It shd hv bn a simple 4-6 step process like :

*Click Donate

*Choose / type amount

*Verify voucher details and balance

*Confirm & accept 

- done!

Honestly,  who cares wat tour or package we want when we r just donating the voucher back to the system? 

The Gov shd then re- distribute these donated vouchers among the various org tt want them & let them choose wat they want!  🤷‍♀️

Gov, if ther ever is another such initiative, can u pls think it through from beginning to end FIRST abt the Execution b4 u launch it! 

By now, I m sure thousands,  if not millions of dollars of vouchers hv bn left by the wayside (tt hv not bn donated nor redeemed)  becos it was just too much hassle to do it online!!!  

🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️wat a waste of resources!!  

😠😖☹️

[11:13 am, 07/01/2022] +Caleb: what is SRP vouchers?

[11:15 am, 07/01/2022] +RH: SRP

Singapore Rediscover Program

The $100 given to us to spend on local tours,  hotels,  etc n 2020.

[11:16 am, 07/01/2022] +RH: *in year 2020.

Deadline to redeem was 31 Dec 2021.

[11:16 am, 07/01/2022] +Caleb: oh, it's over already.. over a period of 2 years liao

[11:17 am, 07/01/2022] +Caleb: anyway if the voucher is not used, means the money goes back to the gov right

[11:17 am, 07/01/2022] +RH: No.  

Not over yet. 

31 Dec 2021 was just a week ago.

Redeem by then but can use up to 31 March 2022.

[11:17 am, 07/01/2022] +Joseph: My family donated all our SRP vouchers.

Had a slightly different experience, maybe because we had someone collate and simplify the steps required - step by step instructions - on how to go about doing it. 

But i can imagine we would have needed quite some time to figure out how to do it on our own/individually. Seems to be a recurring theme, mismatch of end-user know-how and IT/platform design. 😅

[11:18 am, 07/01/2022] +RH: Not sure abt tt. 

Can Reach pls cfm tt?

If it "automatically" goes bk to gov,  then why ask us to 'Donate'?

Good question.  Tks!

[11:18 am, 07/01/2022] +Joseph: 👍

[11:18 am, 07/01/2022] +Caleb: actually alot of our GovTech products are not so good, comparing with other countries gov-tech

[11:19 am, 07/01/2022] +RH: Yes. 

I notice 'poor quality'of personnel in IT Design teams in our civil service... 

Many times,  things r not well thot thru b4 implemention.

[11:20 am, 07/01/2022] +RH: But credit to the team tt designed the latest CDC redemption vouchers. 👍🏻👍🏻

I had no problem using tt one!

[11:20 am, 07/01/2022] +Caleb: can even compare with Malaysia's ones

[11:21 am, 07/01/2022] +Joseph: Are you suggesting we should hire overseas IT experts to do GovTech projects? 🤭  😂😂😂😂

[11:21 am, 07/01/2022] +Caleb: well, even Malaysia can do better then us

[11:21 am, 07/01/2022] +Caleb: we shld learn from these

[11:21 am, 07/01/2022] +Caleb: lol

[11:21 am, 07/01/2022] +JC: 🤔 zhun bo....

[11:21 am, 07/01/2022] +RH: Lol. 

Gov shd train Better ones...  Send their curr team for Training...  Hahaha. 🤣🤣🤣

[11:22 am, 07/01/2022] +Caleb: ya

[11:22 am, 07/01/2022] +Caleb: send to overseas Training

[11:22 am, 07/01/2022] +Caleb: at least for the front-end, citizen facing websites

[11:22 am, 07/01/2022] +Caleb: lol

[11:22 am, 07/01/2022] +RH: All it needs is one Big Head who can think through the Flow Processes & Lead the Team!

[11:23 am, 07/01/2022] +Caleb: but SG gov, make changes very fast

[11:23 am, 07/01/2022] +RH: And involve citizens w feedback  ...

[11:23 am, 07/01/2022] +jimmy chew: could be lots for reason, maybe they should do an after-action review to discover why is so. Is it leadership, people, collaboration, teamwork etc so that it can be effective and user friendly and respond fast to changes.

[11:23 am, 07/01/2022] +JC: actually SG govt is one of the more tech savvy govt in globally... of course it still lags behind private companies but seriously... I don't think many other govts are as good with the IT stuff.

[11:24 am, 07/01/2022] +jimmy chew: yeah, it was mentioned in the papers, we always strive for excellence

[11:24 am, 07/01/2022] +RH: They nd to address the end user issues,  not go fwd but flip the flowchart process over to make it "bottom to top" (triangle tip facing downwards)...

[11:24 am, 07/01/2022] +JC: they do

[11:25 am, 07/01/2022] +RH: Then why still do many errors in execution?

[11:25 am, 07/01/2022] +JC: it's not perfect, but if you say M'sia do better.... I highly doubt it la.

[11:25 am, 07/01/2022] +JC: dude, it's free stuff. what's your expectation for something that's free?

[11:25 am, 07/01/2022] +JC: no ads some more.

[11:26 am, 07/01/2022] +RH: * so

[11:30 am, 07/01/2022] +Joseph: I remember many people complaining about Ministers' (and indirectly, Civil Servants') pay. Unlike my parents' generation, Private sector definitely has more bandwidth to pay, and hence attract talent than Public service sector. It is a reality. Until you are willing to pay more, the best and the brightest will go to the highest pay-masters. Even when a project is outsourced, Govt agencies probably have to be mindful about the costs involved. So.....

[11:31 am, 07/01/2022] +jimmy chew: i thought govt tech is a incubator for the private sector haha

[11:32 am, 07/01/2022] +Joseph: Incubator = not quite there yet leh 😂  got potential ... might work might not work .. probably 10% make it if lucky 😅

[11:34 am, 07/01/2022] +BL: Yep agree. I switched some vouchers to find that they were not redeemable because no slots available. Although there were lots of slots if you wanted to pay cash.

[11:35 am, 07/01/2022] +BL: so you can choose which charity to give them too

[11:38 am, 07/01/2022] +RH: Nice gesture by the Gov,  but they cud then just add another step 

to ask which charity we wanted to give to,  

Not ask which attraction we wanted for them <-- tt is a waste of effort.

[11:46 am, 07/01/2022] ☸️  Danny 心: 

Tourism voucher problem already highlighted in Nov 2020.

[11:56 am, 07/01/2022] +REACH: 👉🏼 296 patients qualified for Covid-19 vaccine injury payouts as of Dec 31: MOH

https://str.sg/wgCo

👉🏼 US to revise Singapore travel advisory after Covid-19 data issue

https://str.sg/wg94

[0:22 pm, 07/01/2022] +Rama: Agree

[0:29 pm, 07/01/2022] +BL: Obviously the US got confused after the WhatsApp messages stopped. 🤣

[0:35 pm, 07/01/2022] +Rama: Nothing factual from that country!

[0:38 pm, 07/01/2022] +jimmy chew: Yeah Singapore has one of the highest volunteer vs population.. that's what One social worker told me. Is the true? Not sure. Also not enough. Large scale intervention is needed.

[1:14 pm, 07/01/2022] +Smiley face: askST: How does the Novavax Covid-19 vaccine work? Can it be used as a booster?

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/askst-how-does-the-novavax-covid-19-vaccine-work-can-it-be-used-as-a-booster

[1:29 pm, 07/01/2022] +Smiley face: https://www.reuters.com/world/india/indias-serum-hopes-launch-novavax-vaccine-children-six-mths-2021-12-14/

[1:34 pm, 07/01/2022] +Smiley face: https://www.hhs.gov/immunization/basics/types/index.html

[1:52 pm, 07/01/2022] ☸️  Danny 心: 

Public Health Safety - with oncoming Omicron wave Versus Economy

1. Our Middle Path Endemic strategy - allow flexible "Balancing of Public Health Safety (to safeguard lives) and opening up of the Economy (to safeguard livelihood)".

2. Singapore is in a good position to safeguard our Public Health Safety because :-

a. We have a high vaccination rate 91%.

b. Our booster rate is 42%.

But having say so, we still need to :-

a. Persuade the remaining 9% unvaccinated - that include children, adults and elderly to vaccinate - as vaccination is best safeguard to curb and protect our population from serious illness or death.

b. Ramp up our booster rate to the maximum of 70% for eligible population - which are due for booster.

The measure to make vaccination lapse without a booster is a good measure to ensure this.

3. Only when the above vaccination objectives are achieved - then Singapore can confidently defeat Omicron and slide to relax more measures along the Middle Path Endemic scale - as our immune system through our booster specifically our T-cell and B-cell immunity can defeat Omicron, Delta and even other variants - though anti-bodies through a lesser extent.

4. For now, I support freezing the current safety measures - without sliding backward to tighten the measures or sliding forward to relax more measures as Omicron wave is looming.

The past 4 days see our infection number looming at 800 plus while before that the infection number is looming around 400 plus --- with Omicron increasingly contributing to the high infection number.

5. Keeping the current 50% workforce and allow children to return to schools - concurrent with our vaccination effort plus other social distancing effort like wearing mask, 5 in a group maximum etc ---- currently is still appropriate - unless we see a spike in infection number - above 1000 over cases and our healthcare system come under pressure with high hospitalisation number ---- as we need to keep Economy, business and jobs going.

6. In other words, hospitalisation number, serious illness and death - in conjuntion with infection number - will be a good combination indicator to determine whether we need to slide backward our Middle Path Endemic scale.

7. I am confident that we can overcome the Omicron wave like we have been overcoming the Delta wave.

On hindsight, many data coming our from the overseas Countries will large Omicron wave - indicates that the peak come very quickly (4 weeks) and then slide drastically (2 weeks) --- with less severe illness - ie. less serious illness or death ---- though with overwhelming number - can still swarm our healthcare system.

We just need to be prudent and conservative to ensure that our healthcare system are not overwhelm.

[1:53 pm, 07/01/2022] ☸️  Danny 心: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/omicron-may-be-less-severe-young-and-old-not-mild-who-2419416?cid=internal_sharetool_androidphone_07012022_cna

Omicron may be less severe in young and old, but not 'mild': WHO

[2:04 pm, 07/01/2022] ☸️  Danny 心: 

Notice the:-

1. Upward trend in infection number.

2. But downward trend in hospital number, serious illness like oxygen support and ICU.

3. Death rate is stable

[2:05 pm, 07/01/2022] ☸️  Danny 心: 

Thus we can still maintain our current safety measures without needing to slide backwards.

But we need to freeze our scale without relaxing more measures - as we monitor the important indicators.

[2:08 pm, 07/01/2022] ☸️  Danny 心: 

Death rate stabilise.

[2:18 pm, 07/01/2022] +JC: spammed!

[2:59 pm, 07/01/2022] +REACH: Dear Contributors

We’d love to hear more from you on today's topic 😊

We have had good feedback and hope that we can keep the discussion robust and active!

Megan

[3:05 pm, 07/01/2022] +Caleb: More worried about cost of living and gst increase

[3:06 pm, 07/01/2022] +chan5956: and jobs for matured workers

[3:14 pm, 07/01/2022] +Eunice ChiaMuch as we dread GST increase and increasing COL, i think GST increase cannot be avoided to fund all the programmes that we have.

Education for our children

Healthcare for our elderly

Invest in jobs/training for our future.....

With GST, there's also social transfers.....

I was just thinking about rough figures.....if a family spends $30,000 per annum (about $2500 per month), the 2% increase works out to be $600....how much do we receive in GST rebates?  about $500 for 2021 I think.  Correct me if i'm wrong.

[3:26 pm, 07/01/2022] +Smiley face: https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3157943/singapore-becomes-worlds-second-most-expensive-city-what

[3:26 pm, 07/01/2022] +Smiley face: https://www.gov.sg/article/singapore-is-it-really-the-most-expensive-place-to-live#:~:text=Singapore%20was%20ranked%20the%20second,position%20in%20the%20previous%20year.

[3:29 pm, 07/01/2022] +Eunice ChiaThanks

[3:48 pm, 07/01/2022] +BL: Meaningless Headline. Applies to those who buy big cars, houses, bottles of wine and send kids to international schools...

[3:49 pm, 07/01/2022] +BL: It's the sort of journalism designed to whip up anxiety and unsettle the population.

[3:49 pm, 07/01/2022] +BL: and on the back of a GST increase, just to fuel the frustration.

[3:50 pm, 07/01/2022] +Rama: And create leaning on the ruling party for all types of cure

[4:24 pm, 07/01/2022] +REACH: Dear Contributors

We’d love to hear more from you on today's topic 😊

We have had good feedback and hope that we can keep the discussion robust and active!

Megan

[4:25 pm, 07/01/2022] +Ken Loh: Eventually… as we matured. No choice

[4:26 pm, 07/01/2022] +Ken Loh: Cost of living increase, but pay hard to catch up. 

The balance need to be there for liveable city. Don’t want to be another Tokyo or NYC.

[4:29 pm, 07/01/2022] +Rama: Those om public assistance of any kind too need a upward realistic adjustment to cope.

[5:11 pm, 07/01/2022] +REACH: Dear Contributors

We’d love to hear more from you on today's topic 😊

We have had good feedback and hope that we can keep the discussion robust and active!

Megan

[5:16 pm, 07/01/2022] +Elena Woo: Wages not really risen as compared to inflation and increased prices of cost of goods. Yes singapore still expensive to live in.

[5:17 pm, 07/01/2022] +Elena Woo: Yes. Salary bo increase lo

[5:18 pm, 07/01/2022] +JC: Some people's wages rise much more than inflation tho... it's not the same across e board.

[5:18 pm, 07/01/2022] +Elena Woo: Normal wage employees dun have much increase lo. My hubby company only give 0.01% increment

[5:18 pm, 07/01/2022] +Elena Woo: Zzz

[5:19 pm, 07/01/2022] +JC: society becoming more divided unfortunately. i see so many young people earning big money early cos they go into crypto/banking

[5:20 pm, 07/01/2022] +Ken Loh: Crypto is gamble 😥

[5:21 pm, 07/01/2022] +JC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH6JEuMufxA&t=5571s

[5:21 pm, 07/01/2022] +JC: watch this video - Ravi Menon lecture. 4mins onwards.

[5:21 pm, 07/01/2022] +JC: Actually quite a good summary of why wages are stagnating for some

[5:21 pm, 07/01/2022] +JC: and growing fast for others

[5:22 pm, 07/01/2022] +JC: MD of MAS

[5:22 pm, 07/01/2022] +JC: start from 5mins onwards.

[5:40 pm, 07/01/2022] +Elena Woo: Like high volatile stocks

[5:41 pm, 07/01/2022] +Ken Loh: Different volatile stock have a company… crypto is pure speculation

[5:41 pm, 07/01/2022] +BL: Not at all! Crypto has huge benefits ahead.

[5:43 pm, 07/01/2022] +BL: It can be, like any investment, including setting up a business. But if you do your research there are some excellent uses for crytpo that will transform supply chain and other infrastructure. It's not all about buy low sell high

[5:43 pm, 07/01/2022] +JC: I'm actually more referring to people who work for crypto companies not those who speculate... 😅 They r paid in SGD btw.

[5:43 pm, 07/01/2022] +BL: Crypto is the future, so it's good we are positioning ourselves as an Asian Hub

[5:43 pm, 07/01/2022] +Joseph: Crypto, imho, is nothing more than a giant ponzi scheme. My take is that there is nothing wrong with punting in as long as the person recognises it for what it really is ....and be prepared that he/she might end up holding the bag when the music suddenly stops 😅

[5:44 pm, 07/01/2022] +Rama: Agree

[5:44 pm, 07/01/2022] +BL: Credit Cards charge 2-3% per transaction, which costs consumers billions each day. If that could be reduced through Crypto which is a few cents per transaction then all of society benefits. That's just 1 use case.

[5:45 pm, 07/01/2022] +BL: Crypto is not about gambling or speculation, despite some people in it for that.

[5:45 pm, 07/01/2022] +Ken Loh: If done correctly.. if not will be a place for money laundering 😂

[5:45 pm, 07/01/2022] +BL: Crypto is just the 'fuel' for transformation of a vast number of industries.

[5:46 pm, 07/01/2022] +BL: All transactions are public so money laundering is harder to do than with cash.

[5:46 pm, 07/01/2022] +Ken Loh: You only know the wallet don’t know the person behind

[5:46 pm, 07/01/2022] +JC: 🌝

[5:47 pm, 07/01/2022] +BL: You can trace back every $ to every transaction; at some point when it gets converted to fiat currency you can follow the trail. That's how people are getting caught.

[5:47 pm, 07/01/2022] +JC: Tot we talking about wealth/income divide and stagnant wages... Crypto is another thread la 😝

[5:47 pm, 07/01/2022] +BL: Like the suitcase full of cash lol

[5:47 pm, 07/01/2022] +Ken Loh: 🤣

[5:47 pm, 07/01/2022] +jimmy chew: Only problem is that if it's Money laundering they will claw back all those who have bought the Bitcoin.

[5:48 pm, 07/01/2022] +Ken Loh: We have to have more value added job

[5:48 pm, 07/01/2022] +Ken Loh: Not any job that people can pick up easily

[5:49 pm, 07/01/2022] +BL: Inflation is offset by wage increases, but what happens when you stop earning, or stop getting raises? Your savings get whittled away through inflation.

[5:50 pm, 07/01/2022] +Rama: Exactly

[5:50 pm, 07/01/2022] +BL: Which is why Bitcoin is a good hedge against inflation. It's value will keep in line with wages, because it's a store of value.

[5:51 pm, 07/01/2022] +BL: Not financial advice! lol

[5:51 pm, 07/01/2022] +BL: Like a property does, but cash does not.

[5:51 pm, 07/01/2022] +Rama: Okay

[5:52 pm, 07/01/2022] +BL: You are guaranteed to lose money in a bank. The interest is always lower than inflation.

[5:52 pm, 07/01/2022] +Rama: Ýes

[5:53 pm, 07/01/2022] +BL: We need to be teaching people about money management. CPF alone is not enough.

[5:53 pm, 07/01/2022] +Rama: Definitely

[6:03 pm, 07/01/2022] +Boon: Dear REACH, it would be very beneficial if there are regular SG authoritative sources on the effects of Omicron, and the comparisons of Omicron's effects with Delta and other variants. This is to explain and to share what is known to the ordinary people so that self-awareness can be the source of prevention and discipline against Covid. For example, effects on children, on aged, on those with heart allegies, etc. Why can't a similar Health WhatsApp groups - like REACH - be formed for online Q&A by ordinary concerned citizens on Covid and vaccines? Instead of having such regular sources of reliable info to inform, the use of daily case numbers and big numbers like 15,000 people as fear factors to motivate vaccine compliance seem to be the main tool. Fear factor as a motivation is not sustainable - it wears people down.

[6:06 pm, 07/01/2022] +~N: @+REACHconsidering the feedback of negative reaction or incidences of adverse reaction some has after the vaccinations, and that there is possibility of adverse reaction developing over time or virus developing resistance to drugs, what is the longer term population health plan?

[6:07 pm, 07/01/2022] +Boon: As for the vaccine validity period, given the limitations of the current experimental vaccines, when will today's 3rd booster shot becomes the 4th or 5th? Can MOH ensures that health and medical insurance will cover Covid and suspected Covid-related illness into the future, when any ill side effects are then likely to be clearer (hopefully no ill side effects of course)

[6:09 pm, 07/01/2022] +Boon: 👍

[6:10 pm, 07/01/2022] +Elena Woo: Until now still no directions when should recovered covid persons take booster shots

[6:41 pm, 07/01/2022] +REACH: Dear Contributors

We’d love to hear more from you on today's topic 😊

We have had good feedback and hope that we can keep the discussion robust and active!

Megan

[6:43 pm, 07/01/2022] +Joseph: hmmm... 3 words ... Etherium Gas Fees  😅

[6:45 pm, 07/01/2022] +REACH: Dear Contributors,

⏰ We will be closing the chat in 15 minutes ⏰

Thank you very much for being part of our WhatsApp chat and participating actively.

Goodnight!

Megan

[6:50 pm, 07/01/2022] +Joseph: I think more Regulations and Oversight is needed in the AI/Tech sector. 

We have gone past the peak of BENEFICIAL technological advancement where Tech complemented manual labour and improved productivity. Right now, Technology has increasingly concentrated wealth in the hands of Tech Founders/Owners, leaving low-end roles/jobs which pay lower wages and offer no career advancement.

New legislation is needed so that the wealth is distributed more equitably. 

Just compare Anthony Tan's wealth versus the many Grab drivers/delivery drivers/F&B etc who are doing the heavy lifting while earning meagre wages with little employment benefits/protection.

[6:58 pm, 07/01/2022] +Smiley face: 7 January, 2022

To: Distinguished MTF and All Honorable Members 

"Director of medical services Kenneth Mak said a worst case scenario may see Singapore recording as many as 15,000 cases a day at the peak of the Omicron wave,..."

Latest R0 is 1.5, what if R0 rises to 9 in the next 30 to 45 days given continuous vaccination and bolstering initiatives? Will it be the LARGEST infection wave since 2020/21 and what previous variants achieved, Omicron will equal that 2021 number of cases, possible? 

What if daily 15,000 cases do arrive and spree to 800,000 recorded cases within 30 days + 30 days? 

It will be a big challenge! We may have to execute cooling measures of up to 10 days inclusive of 1 weekends, that's the minimum to avoid a 3 weeks lockdown? 

Simple Model:

Assuming 15,000 omicron cases, non for Delta and the starting point of reference in counting exponentially. 

2% x 15,000 = 300 critical numbers 

30% x 15,000 = 5,000 more symptomatic 

30 days   +   next 30 days

(15,000... )   (R0@4.0 and dropping) 

Capacity & Capability:

Estimate 300 people need hospitalisation of all degree of medical interventions. Are our medical infrastructures (24 hrs) ready to handle this estimate and including all non covid hospitalisation to include intra-day surgery & recovery. What's the total "operational ready" ambulance count? 

At the GPs and community public clinics, can we SWIFTLY (8 to12 hours) treat up to 5000 daily cases for consecutive 60 days assuming not mild cases and same time no need for hospitalisation?

The remaining 10,000 people may self medicate, rest at home and observe the 5 days self isolation including day 1 of ART positive.

Yes, cautiously optimistic, we are learning and ready to ride this O wave where R0 is 4 and less?  Perhaps many valuable experiences and a big exposures in formation, this O and us! 

News:

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/us-to-revise-singapore-travel-advisory-after-covid-19-data-issue

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-as-omicron-spreads-israel-keep-changing-its-covid-rules-what-s-the-logic-beind-it-1.10520841

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/belgium-suffers-record-covid-19-cases-adapts-quarantine-strategy-2419406

https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/europe/127436108/covid19-omicron-may-be-what-lifts-us-out-of-the-pandemic-according-to-a-danish-official

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/booster-shot-must-be-taken-within-270-days-after-2nd-dose-to-remain-fully-vaccinate

https://www.reuters.com/world/india/indias-serum-hopes-launch-novavax-vaccine-children-six-mths-2021-12-14/

https://www.hhs.gov/immunization/basics/types/index.html

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/resp.14191      

                - - END - -

[7:01 pm, 07/01/2022] +REACH: Dear Contributors,

We will be closing the chat for today.

Thank you very much for being part of our WhatsApp chat and participating actively.

Goodnight!

Megan 😊

======

REACH 305 - What are your views on PM Lee's New Year message, in particular on GST hike, new challenges in the pandemic, generating new growth in a post-pandemic economy, and building an inclusive society? How can we play our part to stay united as one people and one Singapore? (SK)

05 Jan 2022 (10am - 7pm)

REACH

[9:45 am, 05/01/2022] +REACH: Dear Contributors,

Welcome back! 😊

⏰ We will be opening the chat from 10am to 7pm today. ⏰

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We will strive to uphold these rules to ensure this is a safe space for all.

Please be assured that the points made by participants during the chat are aggregated and shared with relevant agencies.

The topic will be posted shortly.

Thank you

Megan 😊

[10:01 am, 05/01/2022] +REACH: 📢 Topic 📢

The year ahead will be a time of transition as the economy is recovering steadily after two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in his New Year message on Friday (Dec 31).

💬 What are your views on PM Lee's New Year message, in particular on GST hike, new challenges in the pandemic, generating new growth in a post-pandemic economy, and building an inclusive society? How can we play our part to stay united as one people and one Singapore?

Below are the highlights of PM Lee’s New Year message:

GST Hike

📌 Singapore needs a vibrant economy, and reliable and adequate revenues to carry out its social programmes, the expansion of our healthcare system and support schemes for older Singaporeans.

📌 Rationale for raising a broad-based tax like the GST, coupled with a comprehensive scheme of offsets to cushion the impact on lower income households. 

📌 Government will “start moving” on a planned Goods and Services Tax (GST) increase in Budget 2022, which will lay the basis for sound and sustainable government finances for the next stage of Singapore’s development.

New challenges in the pandemic

📌 PM Lee noted that the Omicron variant has brought new uncertainties, but asserted that Singapore can be "quietly confident" in our ability to cope with the pandemic.

📌 Nation's position is greatly strengthened compared to two years ago, having rolled out booster jabs and started vaccinations for children below 12.

📌 In addition, Singapore has learnt how to better manage the public health challenges while minimising the impact on our economy.

📌 Emergency support measures will be progressively phased out as businesses revive, and cross-border travel will be safely expanded, Omicron permitting.

Generating new growth in a post-pandemic economy

📌 Singapore's GDP is expected to grow by three to five percent in 2022.

📌 Continue to pursue trade liberalisation and regional integration for the benefit of Singaporeans. One example PM Lee noted is the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, which came into force on Jan. 1, 2022.

📌 Pressing on with industry transformation efforts to enhance existing strengths, help companies restructure, and upgrade workers' skills for longer term goals.

📌 Seek out new growth areas, including in the digital and green economies, building on our Smart Nation efforts and the Singapore Green Plan 2030.

Building an inclusive society

📌 Change in policy to allow Muslim nurses in public hospitals to wear tudung with their uniforms as a step towards building a more inclusive Singapore.

📌 Actively strengthening fairness at the workplace and support for women, as well as improving protection and retirement adequacy for self-employed persons.

📌 Mending rifts deepened by the pandemic, uplifting those falling behind, enhancing safety nets for those in need, caring for the mental health of people, and meeting the needs of an aging society.

👉 https://www.pmo.gov.sg/Newsroom/2022-New-Year-Message-by-PM-Lee-Hsien-Loong

👉 https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/politics/2022-will-be-time-of-transition-as-economy-recovers-budget-will-touch-on-gst-pm-lee

👉 https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/politics/finance-minister-lawrence-wong-to-unveil-budget-2022-in-parliament-on-feb-18

👉 https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/politics/plan-for-gst-hike-between-2022-and-2025-remains-unchanged-all-options-being

[10:19 am, 05/01/2022] +REACH: Dear Contributors

We’d love to hear more from you on today's topic 😊

We have had good feedback and hope that we can keep the discussion robust and active!

Megan

-----

[10:42 am, 05/01/2022] +BL: Lots to cover today. Acceptable about tax increases, we are still a v low tax economy. Important that low income families are shielded from the GST rise.

[10:43 am, 05/01/2022] +BL: Economy needs to grow substationally to pay back the cost of covid. 3-5% is a start but I'm assuming we need double digits over the next 3-5 years.

[10:44 am, 05/01/2022] +BL: Fully support an inclusive society and hope to see funds going to that.

[10:45 am, 05/01/2022] +BL: SG has done really well with Covid measures. 👍🤝

[10:46 am, 05/01/2022] +BL: Would like to see more done for kids and families to help recover from the lack of social interaction , and affects on mental health

[10:48 am, 05/01/2022] +BL: US doesn't know what good covid management means 🤣🤣

https://www.straitstimes.com/world/united-states/us-reclassifies-covid-19-travel-advisory-for-singapore-to-unknown

[10:52 am, 05/01/2022] +JC: GST hike is needful but the key is to ensure that the money raised will be well spent.

3 areas where funding should go to especially in my view:

(1) Healthcare -> we should move towards better universal coverage of healthcare treatments. There remains significant gaps in our system e.g. rare disease treatments are poorly covered. Significant co-payments still exists for some patients/treatments. Hopefully the GST hike can help contribute to that. 

(2) Preparing for an older workforce -> given our ageing population, we need to be more radical in how we enable older workers to continue contributing to the economy. There's still significant ageism in hiring practices today and govt will have to take the lead in this in order to effect a paradigm shift. 

(3) Wealth gap -> more needs to be done to ensure that the wealth (not just income) gap in SG society is not further exacerbated by the macro shifts in the economy. Basic needs should increasingly be better provided to give every child a fair starting point.

[11:05 am, 05/01/2022] +Stella Yip: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/consumer/nearly-470-people-lose-at-least-85m-to-phishing-scam-involving-ocbc-bank

[11:07 am, 05/01/2022] +Stella Yip: Sorry to go off topic a bit.  While we keep up good efforts to help the low income families and needy.  I hope G can push private sector to protect the general public's money in the bank.

[11:09 am, 05/01/2022] +Stella Yip: The scammers are continuously on top of the game. And while we try to keep up-to-date on info to avoid falling into the scams, they come up with better and more convincing scams.

[11:11 am, 05/01/2022] +Stella Yip: Money is not easily earned by the general public.  Many people have been saving up since they were babies, putting in all their angpow money every year.  Thinking twice if they should upsize their meal at fast food restaurants.  When it is wiped out by scammers, it is heart breaking.

[11:13 am, 05/01/2022] +Stella Yip: Just got sms from OCBC that it will stop sending sms with links for clicking.  But consumers already so used to OCBC sms with links to click.

[11:15 am, 05/01/2022] +Stella Yip: I suppose that Telco has no way to stop scammers from adding sms below the authentic OCBC sms(s) that we already have in our phones.

[11:16 am, 05/01/2022] +Stella Yip: I suppose that Police also has no way to track where the money has landed and maybe the banks overseas are not cooperative.

[11:18 am, 05/01/2022] +Stella Yip: In Philippines, people can buy insurance on their deposits in bank, subject to a max value.  However, after paying the insurance premium, there is little or no interest earnings left.

[11:19 am, 05/01/2022] +Stella Yip: I guess fraud might be more rampant there.

[11:25 am, 05/01/2022] +Stella Yip: While we understand the inevitable increase in GST is for the greater good of the nation, I hope G will see the actions of the scammers as being a national threat and push hard on the banks and telco to do what's right to protect the general public.  Many people's world has collapsed when they lose their life savings in the bank.

[11:27 am, 05/01/2022] +Stella Yip: If possible, I hope G will push for the banks to implement options for its customers so that we can opt to NOT allow transfer of funds to people with banks whereby that bank is not able to recall the fund in the event of fraud/scam.

[11:30 am, 05/01/2022] +Stella Yip: I think people dont mind restricting their purchase to websites/companies/individuals with banks whereby the banks are in good relations to our banks and our local police to combat fraud/scam.

[11:59 am, 05/01/2022] +Rama: Subsidies across all types have to be adjusted upwards to keep pace with inflation and cost of living.

[0:05 pm, 05/01/2022] +Stella Yip: To help the general public deal with the increase in cost from GST increase, can G provide incentives to companies to increase wages, especially if the companies had performed well in 2021 and key executives were paid fat bonus?

[0:13 pm, 05/01/2022] +Caleb: +1

[0:37 pm, 05/01/2022] +REACH: Dear Contributors

We’d love to hear more from you on today's topic 😊

We have had good feedback and hope that we can keep the discussion robust and active!

Megan

[0:41 pm, 05/01/2022] +JkL: +1

[0:41 pm, 05/01/2022] +JkL: +1

[0:42 pm, 05/01/2022] +JkL: Cost of living getting higher and higher.. just wondering utilites bills went up double

[0:43 pm, 05/01/2022] +JkL: We use just normal usage.

[0:51 pm, 05/01/2022] +Elena Woo: The electricity tariff went up again... haiz

[0:52 pm, 05/01/2022] +JkL: When energy price went up all up...when the oil price so low nv seen the electricity went down  so much also

[0:52 pm, 05/01/2022] +Elena Woo: Ya

[0:53 pm, 05/01/2022] +JkL: 4 times since last years

[0:55 pm, 05/01/2022] +Rama: Does  open electricity market package price helps against SP for consumers!?

[0:57 pm, 05/01/2022] +JkL: Aiyo... open market..suddenly the company close..I also not aware...called then told me my contract transfer back to SP, huh!  Like that also can

[0:59 pm, 05/01/2022] +JkL: Average usage around 200-230..last month suddenly went up 490,,called said estimated,,,huhhh

[0:59 pm, 05/01/2022] +Rama: You were supposed to be able to çhoose

[1:00 pm, 05/01/2022] +JkL: How can estimate so much difference from average?

[1:15 pm, 05/01/2022] +Rama: Do your own meter reading and submit

[1:18 pm, 05/01/2022] +JkL: Before that yes,only last few months not record. Thought was stable usage.. Will have to start again record

[1:19 pm, 05/01/2022] +Rama: Don't allow SP to estimate between months reading is done.

[1:20 pm, 05/01/2022] +JkL: Ya..anyhow estimate one

[1:24 pm, 05/01/2022] +JkL: One thing I noticed, not sure correct or coincidence..  whenever got gov rebate no bill is much higher then normal... has anyone see the same.. just my thoughts only..

[1:24 pm, 05/01/2022] ☸️  Danny 心: 

Balance of Public Health Safety versus Economy

1. Year 2020 and 2021 has been a challenging year due to the safety threat pose by covid pandemic.

Hence great effort is exerted to :-

a. Stop the covid spread among our population

b. Finding solutions - specifically vaccination (where 2 vaccinations + 1 booster) especially mRNA vaccines are found to be the most effective solutions to protect our population from succumbing to all strains of covid to date.

c. While our Economy, business and jobs - in some sectors take a back seat and got hit.

d. And many sectors, business and jobs - are forced to transform by going digital - so that sectors, business and jobs can continue to operate remotely working from home. 

e. And even schools and learning can be done remotely from home.

2. Now with high percentage of our populatino 91% vaccinated with 42% receiving our boosters - covid strains can be more or less subdue without succumbing to serious illness and death - we can re-focus on our Economy, business and jobs.

3. The challenges we face in our Economy are :-

a. Disrupted supply chain due to pandemic

b. Geopolitical challenges that skew and disrupt global supply chain

c. High energy prices trigger by pandemic

d. Imported inflation - due to havoc cause by global climate, pandemic and supply chain disruption

e. Stagflation occuring in major economies - eg. US, EU, China etc characterised by high inflation (due to massive quantitative easing and money supply injection by Central Banks all over the World to boost their Economies hit by pandemic), but unfortunately fail to significantly improve their GDPs, business activities and create jobs - due to the crippling pandemic that force people to stay home, faill to boost business activities that dampen consumption and hence lead to dampening economic growth.

f. We have dig into our reserves, and for the past 2 years have to resort to fiscal deficit to fund our mammoth health expenditure - to foot the bills on testing, isolation, hospitalisation stay, vaccination etc.

As well as fund our business, jobs and livelihood of our total population - that are severely impacted by the covid pandemic.

4. Thus such "coming to post-pandemic" Economuc challenges will become serious challenges to our industrial sectors, business, jobs - whereby our Government will need to steer us back into pink of health.

[1:27 pm, 05/01/2022] +Rama: You might have a point

[1:35 pm, 05/01/2022] +JkL: Not sure how gov going to help people on rise of cost of living.. hopefully can do more for the mid and lower income workers

[1:50 pm, 05/01/2022] ☸️  Danny 心: 

Areas that need to be brought back to pink of Health - come post pandemic

1. Business (impacted by pandemic and struggle to survive), urgent need to transform business to go digital to stay resilience and exploits opportunities that are brought about by RCEP, CPTPP and other FTA.

2. Jobs and income - higher value added jobs, digitial competencies that bring higher income - to be able to do well and cushion against GST increases, inflation.

3. Economy - to quote what the PM say - seek out new growth areas like Green sustainability economies and digital economies.

4. Public health safety - to ensure the total population achieve full vaccination and booster reach 70% from 42% for eligible population - so that covid pandemic regardless of all strains become harmless and we can go endemic.

5. Rebuild our financial reserves and prudent fiscal budget - by ensuring balance fiscal budget - as we cannot continue to incur budget deficit that will drain our finanical reserves and incur debt for our population.

Hence we need to :-

a. Impose broad base tax like GST to ensure everyone chip in to bring our National Reserve back to health.

But social measures need to be put in place to help low income earners, retiree and unemployed - are not seriously affected by the GST increases.

b. Maintain our currency strong - to cushion against imported inflation - but at the same time ensure our export competitiveness by transforming and focusing on producing high-value added products and services.

c. Boost local production of our food supply and reduce our reliant on importing food - for example, plant-based food, cell culture and tissue re-engineering food, high-tech vegetables, eggs etc. This will help us to hedge against imported food prices for our population.

d. Exploits economic opportunities offer by our multi-lateral trade deals eg. RCEP, CPTPP, Digital Economies, attracting high net worth home office etc. - to boost our Economies.

Continue to transform our business, workers skillsets, new economic sectors etc - to grow our Economies.

e. Look for alternative energy sources - such as installing solar panels for each household by paying a flat annual fee to complement current energy supplier - and hedge against high energy prices for each household.

2. I think we have done well in our Economy - as even though we are in the midst of pandemic in 2021 - we are a star performers - producing more than 7% GDP growth --- among the best economic performers in the World.

We can continue to do well come 2022 and beyond.

[2:20 pm, 05/01/2022] +REACH: Dear Contributors

We’d love to hear more from you on today's topic 😊

We have had good feedback and hope that we can keep the discussion robust and active!

Megan

[2:37 pm, 05/01/2022] +Smiley face: Hong Kong hunts Covid-19 patient's contacts, orders cruise ship back to port

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/hong-kong-hunts-covid-19-patients-contacts-orders-cruise-ship-back-to-port

[2:46 pm, 05/01/2022] +Laurent: https://www.theepochtimes.com/omicron-spreads-faster-than-delta-within-vaccinated-individuals-danish-study_4192825.html?utm_source=newsnoe&utm_campaign=breaking-2022-01-04-4&utm_medium=email&est=11KYOGTGpuO5Hc4Aa0OXML4i542hhf6eqYfvOpbgGWXU0DMNyd4gBNdjPSJkPCI%3D

[2:48 pm, 05/01/2022] ☸️  Danny 心: https://www.npr.org/2021/09/10/1036023973/covid-19-unvaccinated-deaths-11-times-more-likely

Unvaccinated People Are 11 Times More Likely To Die Of COVID-19, New Research Finds.

[2:49 pm, 05/01/2022] ☸️  Danny 心: https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/11/09/texas-unvaccinated-deaths-higher-covid/

Unvaccinated Texans 40 times as likely to die of covid as those fully vaccinated in 2021, study says.

[2:49 pm, 05/01/2022] ☸️  Danny 心: 

https://www.webmd.com/vaccines/covid-19-vaccine/news/20211124/unvaccinated-14-times-more-likely-to-die-from-covid

Unvaccinated 14 Times More Likely to Die From COVID.

[2:57 pm, 05/01/2022] +Smiley face: VARANASI (INDIA) 

With the help of monitoring committees, the distribution of Covid-19 medicine kits began in Varanasi on Saturday as a preventive measure to check the third wave of Covid-19, said additional chief medical officer (ACMO), Dr Sanjay Rai.

District magistrate (DM) Kaushal Raj Sharma had procured a large quantity of Covid medicines for the city from the government and monitoring committees had been roped in to distribute the medicine kits, he said.

“A total of 874 committees will distribute the kits in rural areas under eight primary health centers (PHCs) in developmental block areas of Varanasi. Likewise, monitoring committees of all 90 wards will distribute the Covid medicine kits in urban areas under 24 PHCs. These committees will also distr…

[3:33 pm, 05/01/2022] +REACH: Deaf Covid-19 patients can now communicate with MOH through SMS and e-mail, instead of phone

Covid-19 patients who are deaf or hard of hearing can now communicate with the Health Ministry (MOH) through a short message service (SMS) or e-mail.

More: https://str.sg/wge8

[3:40 pm, 05/01/2022] +Smiley face: German health minister says tighter Covid-19 curbs unavoidable

https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/german-health-minister-says-tighter-covid-19-curbs-unavoidable

[3:40 pm, 05/01/2022] ☸️  Danny 心: 

My close friend comments:-

We should not forget to thank PM, ministers, MPs and everyone in the civil service and gov agencies who had worked tirelessly over the past 2 years. Grateful!

[3:40 pm, 05/01/2022] +Smiley face: Hong Kong vaccine surge sees majority pick Sinovac over BioNTech

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/hong-kong-vaccine-surge-sees-majority-pick-sinovac-over-biontech

[4:09 pm, 05/01/2022] +Smiley face: Indian health experts urge preparations for new wave of Covid-19

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/south-asia/indian-health-experts-urge-preparations-for-new-wave-of-covid-19

[4:21 pm, 05/01/2022] +Smiley face: Hong Kong to ban dining-in after 6pm as Omicron spreads

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/hong-kong-to-ban-dining-in-after-6pm-as-omicron-spreads

[4:22 pm, 05/01/2022] +Rama: World is going back on measures!

[4:50 pm, 05/01/2022] +REACH: Dear Contributors

We’d love to hear more from you on today's topic 😊

We have had good feedback and hope that we can keep the discussion robust and active!

Megan

[4:54 pm, 05/01/2022] +Smiley face: "This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But, perhaps, the end of the beginning." 

-- Winston Churchill

[4:55 pm, 05/01/2022] +Elena Woo: Singapore is relaxing on measures.

[4:55 pm, 05/01/2022] +Rama: Possibly

[4:56 pm, 05/01/2022] +Elena Woo: And wonder what will be the measures like esp for CNY period

[4:56 pm, 05/01/2022] +Caleb: ya lor

[4:57 pm, 05/01/2022] +Caleb: Gov shld make it mandatory for those go back ofc, all shld do weekly ART.

[4:58 pm, 05/01/2022] +Elena Woo: I still think cut down the wfh to 25% will be better and make wfh as default for parents with kids less than 5 yo. The public transport is still very crowded and this is an incubator for unknown clusters forming.

[4:58 pm, 05/01/2022] +Caleb: +1

[4:59 pm, 05/01/2022] +Elena Woo: And people are still talking in mrt and buses.

[4:59 pm, 05/01/2022] +Elena Woo: There is like no enforcement on the no talking rules.

[4:59 pm, 05/01/2022] +Caleb: must have fines

[4:59 pm, 05/01/2022] +Elena Woo: Within the trains and buses

[4:59 pm, 05/01/2022] +Caleb: then works for Singapore

[5:00 pm, 05/01/2022] +Rama: 🤦‍♀️🤷‍♂️

[5:02 pm, 05/01/2022] +Caleb: just like trays return

[5:02 pm, 05/01/2022] +65 9489 5389: Rather get Covid than be fined for talking!!??!!! 🤯

[5:09 pm, 05/01/2022] +JkL: +1

[5:09 pm, 05/01/2022] +Rama: Current measures for compliance needs to be strengthened across all areas.

[5:10 pm, 05/01/2022] +JkL: +1

[5:24 pm, 05/01/2022] +~N: Why not do a progressive tax system rather than a flat tax across

[5:28 pm, 05/01/2022] +~N: And what is considered low income? By housing type or by per capita?

[5:30 pm, 05/01/2022] +Caleb: +1

[5:30 pm, 05/01/2022] +Rama: What about those in old private property but are penniless!? Assests rich but  cash poor!

[5:38 pm, 05/01/2022] +~N: I do not know how my personal finance is benefiting from trade liberalization, please let me know in simple terms how I can benefit from it

[5:41 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: The GST is a regressive tax as it taxes all at the same rate regardless of income . Also isnt it a little too early to start getting their whole chicken back ( after giving us chicken wings). If anyone has noticed, our bills and expenses have been steadily increasing last few years ( water tariffs, electricity , conservancy ) u name it. And all coming hard and fast at the heels of each other

[5:41 pm, 05/01/2022] +Rama: 😨😳😱😅🤣😂🤦‍♀️🤷‍♂️😔😞😟

[5:42 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: Salaries aren't going up in such a COVID impacted economy . Isn't it prudent to really slow down or better manage these increases?

[5:42 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: To

[5:42 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: Instead of clawing it back and more with a vengeance?

[5:43 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: With the GST

[5:43 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: I wonder if the top really does connect the grassroots anymore as they always claim they do

[5:45 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: Giving vouchers is sadly not a soln. It's a one time thing but the increased taxes are forever. And in certain cases u get it in terms of discounts rather than cash. They makes reallocation of your funds even more difficult especially if u are poor.

[5:45 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: Not to mention those who are old or not educated enough to know how to get those vouchers.

[5:46 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: No amount of grassroot and social volunteers is going to address all these

[5:47 pm, 05/01/2022] +Rama: No, they don't!

[5:47 pm, 05/01/2022] +Rama: Agree

[5:47 pm, 05/01/2022] +Rama: Agree

[5:48 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: I wonder if our feedback here really goes to the top or it gets stonewalled and filed away somewhere so that only the good things get reported up? Hahaha

[5:48 pm, 05/01/2022] +Rama: Stonewalling!

[5:48 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: Just saying 😂. Don't kill me admin 🤣

[5:54 pm, 05/01/2022] +Joseph: There are 2 main types of taxes we incur: 

1. Income tax

2. Consumption tax

Income tax is self-explanatory. Everyone earning a wage (above a minimum threshold) has to pay Income Tax. In fact, a lot wealthy people/business-owners etc, either have no salary (retired?) or pay themselves only a nominal pay = which attracts low/no Income tax - while getting the bulk of their income from Dividends/Stock options etc.

GST on the other hand, is a consumption tax. A wealthy person may pay less Income Tax than the average person on the street, but he/she will more than make up for it, from the GST on the bigger ticket items they purchase eg. GST on 1 luxury watch can be more than the entire monthly salary (let alone income tax) of an average person. Conversely, an average/low income person, can choose to defer or even substitute certain purchases to avoid having to pay the higher GST. 

Whatever the case, we need to remember that if not GST, taxes will have to anyway be raised in other ways. The question is, would you rather have option of avoiding it - by deferring/substituting a purchase - or would you rather an Income tax, where you have no choice?

GST is a consumption tax

[5:56 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: Your assumption is based on the fact that prices are different for poor pple and rich pple. It isn't . For certain neccesities pple have to consume regardless. For a poor person that tax has a bigger impact on the them then a rich person given the widening income disparity  and especially in disposable income

[5:56 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: I would rather go for higher income taxes or capital gains taxes etc

[5:57 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: Those impact the poorer pple much less

[5:58 pm, 05/01/2022] +~a: But GST affects foreigners and tourists as well, while income taxes or capital gain taxes don't affect foreigners

[5:58 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: Yes but your taxation model shouldn't be designed based on foreigners or tourists at the expense of the poorer citizens

[5:59 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: U can have tourism or more specific taxes or tariffs for that

[5:59 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: The problem with the GST is it is a catch all

[5:59 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: It doesn't distinguish between the poor and the rich

[5:59 pm, 05/01/2022] +~a: I think maybe not restrictive to tourism but foreigners I suppose

[5:59 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: It hits all equally .

[5:59 pm, 05/01/2022] +~a: Given the low tourism rates

[6:00 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: For the poorer pple, that impact is proportionally bigger

[6:00 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: I give an example. Conservancy, water prices, electricity bills have increased significantly last few years

[6:00 pm, 05/01/2022] +~a: Yes, I suppose there a trade offs to each model

[6:00 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: Gst is already higher based on the higher fess

[6:00 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: For the poor pple, they cannot consume less of such services as they are essential

[6:01 pm, 05/01/2022] +Elena Woo: +1

[6:01 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: In Malaysia for example. Certain categories of items or foodstuffs are exempt from gst

[6:01 pm, 05/01/2022] +~a: I thought essential services are subsidized

[6:01 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: Things like milk powder diapers etc

[6:02 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: Again Via vouchers in most cases

[6:02 pm, 05/01/2022] +Elena Woo: I think gst to be lower for essential goods

[6:02 pm, 05/01/2022] +Elena Woo: Or remain as 7%

[6:02 pm, 05/01/2022] +~a: Maybe can differentiate between essential vs luxury goods then

[6:02 pm, 05/01/2022] +~a: And impose higher taxes on luxury ones, to subsidize essential ones

[6:02 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: Gst even impacts children who don't make an income

[6:03 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: From a finance perspective

[6:03 pm, 05/01/2022] +Elena Woo: Luxury will be cars, branded stuff and private properties?

[6:03 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: But gst is recurrent and non stop

[6:03 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: Gst is a mega huat for the government

[6:03 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: Income tax is once a year

[6:03 pm, 05/01/2022] +Elena Woo: But how is to be categorised under branded stuff?

[6:03 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: Exactly

[6:04 pm, 05/01/2022] +Elena Woo: Or by a product value?

[6:04 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: Don't use gst. Have seperate taxes for property and cars

[6:04 pm, 05/01/2022] +~a: "Luxury" in the economic sense

[6:04 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: Those are already expensive but are really not essentials

[6:04 pm, 05/01/2022] +~a: I guess there's alr property tax tho

[6:04 pm, 05/01/2022] +Elena Woo: Property tax for private properties

[6:04 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: Which has also increased 🤣

[6:04 pm, 05/01/2022] +Elena Woo: Hdb properties should remain the same

[6:04 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: Sometimes I worry if we are having too many us trained civil servants and policy makers

[6:05 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: In the us, free trade model is the king

[6:05 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: Free market , full capitalism

[6:05 pm, 05/01/2022] +Elena Woo: That is why us has a lot of homeless and poverty

[6:05 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: They assume, if u r poor, u are lazy or incompetent etc

[6:06 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: Exactly, the growing gap between rich and poor is already a sign of things to come

[6:06 pm, 05/01/2022] +Elena Woo: But singapore pmets are just middle income ppl who are sandwiched

[6:06 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: My friend made a joke, middle class is becoming low class 🤣

[6:06 pm, 05/01/2022] +Elena Woo: And middle income ppl also feel the heavy impact because they have no help

[6:06 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: The bulk of the governments income comes form the middle class

[6:07 pm, 05/01/2022] +Elena Woo: They are not eligible for subsidies and they have to fork out more.

[6:07 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: The rich have legitimate ways of reducing tax through their companies

[6:07 pm, 05/01/2022] +Elena Woo: And salaries are not increasing enough

[6:07 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: The poor hardly pay income tax

[6:07 pm, 05/01/2022] +Caleb: +1

[6:07 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: So really is the middle class that is doing all the heavy lifting

[6:08 pm, 05/01/2022] +Elena Woo: Yes. And with inflation and cost of goods increasing.

[6:08 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: I get it that prices have to increase but that tempo and amount of increase has accelerated significantly these few years :(

[6:08 pm, 05/01/2022] +Elena Woo: Middle class has nowhere to have financial aid

[6:11 pm, 05/01/2022] +Rama: 😅🤣😂

[6:12 pm, 05/01/2022] +Rama: These will have an impact on investments and expat jobs

[6:13 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: Sooo, what about the poor?

[6:13 pm, 05/01/2022] +Rama: Bear in mind  PM said even implementation of luxury tax is difficult

[6:14 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: It's tight rope to walk but I think always looking at individuals as money producing units is probably wrong

[6:14 pm, 05/01/2022] +Rama: Government has to strike a balance somehow

[6:14 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: Too much millionaires here 🤣

[6:14 pm, 05/01/2022] ☸️  Danny 心: 

1. Department of Statistics :- Resident households - including those with no working individuals - received $6,308 per household member on average from various government schemes last year 2021.    

2. If a low income earner expenses is about $3,000 a month per household, it means $36,000 per year will be spend by the low income household. And if GST is 9%,  $3,240 GST will be incurred by the low income household.  

3. But Government financial grant to low income household is $6,308 per household. It is more than cover the GST incur of $3,240.   

4. And Government say that it will increase more government grant to low income household if GST is to increase to 9%.

[6:14 pm, 05/01/2022] +Rama: And difficult to tax!

[6:15 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: Yes, they can just leave

[6:16 pm, 05/01/2022] ☸️  Danny 心: 

Source :- Straits Times.                                                                                                                    https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/household-income-from-work-for-poor-families-fell-69-last-year-due-to-covid-19-study-by

[6:16 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: The devil is in the details, would love to see how they come up with all this . How do they calculate the spending of the low income earners and how they come up with how much rebates are needed

[6:16 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: Are the grants automatic or they have to apply for it?

[6:16 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: If the latter, how do they qualify

[6:17 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: What are the assumptions used etc

[6:17 pm, 05/01/2022] +Rama: Means testing must be adjusted

[6:17 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: The devil always is in the details

[6:17 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: For example, the unemployment figured in Singapore , are calculated based only on those who are jobless for less than 6 mths

[6:17 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: Those who are unemployed more than 6 mths are excluded

[6:18 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: As they are considered " not looking for employment"

[6:18 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: Wonder which ministry will have the data and statistics behind this report

[6:18 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: Would love to go their website to have a look

[6:22 pm, 05/01/2022] ☸️  Danny 心: 

Guide To Grants & Subsidies For Middle-Income Households In Singapore. Even middle income household also got.                                                                                        https://dollarsandsense.sg/guide-grants-subsidies-middle-income-households-singapore/

[6:23 pm, 05/01/2022] +Joseph: My assumption is based on the fact that essential products in SG has perfect substitutes across a broad price spectrum. In simple terms, that means you can buy imported Japanese rice for $20/kg if can afford it, or a “house brand” rice for approx. $2/kg from NTUC … maybe less if you know where to look. 

And i also did an estimate of the impact on a 2% rise in GST on food essentials versus the $95 GST Voucher that the lowest income families will receive in Jan 2022.

Basically, the $95 voucher will cover the 2% GST increase on $4750 of purchases.

I further calculated how much more taxes a wealthy person would be paying from the 2% higher GST from his/her Ferrari purchase - $20k. Assuming the Ferrari is (only) $1million. $20k more for 1 purchase that a low income person would not make, and 20k more in taxes from this wealthy person who would most likely not pay in Income tax.

[6:25 pm, 05/01/2022] +REACH: Booster shot must be taken within 270 days after 2nd dose to remain fully vaccinated

➡️ https://str.sg/wghb

Omicron less severe; GPs key in deciding which Covid-19 patients require closer supervision

➡️ https://str.sg/wghE 

US unaware of S'pore's Covid-19 data when it advised against travel here: Ong Ye Kung 

➡️ https://str.sg/wghR 

Covid-19 rules will remain during CNY period in view of Omicron wave

➡️ https://str.sg/wghD 

Omicron versus Delta: What we know so far

➡️ https://str.sg/wghz

[6:25 pm, 05/01/2022] +Joseph: This is naive. You are assuming the wealthy will still remain in SG/retain SG tax residency if Income tax/capital gains tax rate rises 😜

[6:26 pm, 05/01/2022] +Joseph: 100% tax on zero is still zero

[6:27 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: The voucher is only given at the start, it's not gonna be given permanently. And vouchers are not a catch all for all costs across the board for essentials. Basically u still pay first and they might subsidize u for some if u are lucky

[6:28 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: Again, the fixation with the rich. Sure they will always go anywhere like the Bahamas but what about the collateral damage for the policies to keep them here

[6:28 pm, 05/01/2022] +Rama: True

[6:31 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: https://www.thebalance.com/trickle-down-economics-theory-effect-does-it-work-3305572

[6:31 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: Not exactly the Singapore context but economists are starting to think that trickle down economics do not work

[6:32 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: The ultra rich didn't get to where they are by being nice . They game the system as much as they can through tax breaks , special benefits for their companies and investments

[6:32 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: And when they have gotten all they can, off they go to the next tax haven

[6:32 pm, 05/01/2022] +Joseph: If i recall correctly, according to Sibgstats, the taxes collected from the top 5% of income earners account for something like 70% of all taxes collected by IRAS. 

The wealthy CAN and WILL leave for a more tax friendly country. The average joe, probably not so mobile. 

For every dollar of taxes lost from the exodus of a wealthy taxpayer, either (1) the same has to raised by taxing the rest more or (2) the Govt will have less $ to spend on infrastructure, security, medical subsidies, eduction etc etc.

[6:34 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: I will try and see if I can get the statistics behind this

[6:34 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: Needless to say, its probably difficult

[6:34 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: How do they actually measure the gst they get from the 5% ultra rich?

[6:34 pm, 05/01/2022] +Joseph: Why did Eduardo Severin take up SG residency? Will he still stay if the tax regime is no longer attractive to him? Can he still do what is doing if he were not based in SG? Seems pretty obvious to me who needs whom more 😅

[6:34 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: Income tax and corporate taxes for sure

[6:35 pm, 05/01/2022] +Joseph: it’s really easy to get. Just google. it’s all on Sibgstats. I am on the move now, otherwise i will find it for you 😊

[6:35 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: I guess the issue here is really if the benefits do trickle down to help the less privileged members of society who are as u mentioned , here for good

[6:35 pm, 05/01/2022] +JC: True

[6:35 pm, 05/01/2022] +JC: 💯

[6:36 pm, 05/01/2022] +JC: +1

[6:36 pm, 05/01/2022] ☸️  Danny 心: ​​ 

1.6 How long will the GST Voucher scheme last and how much does it cost the Government?

The GST Voucher is a permanent scheme with benefits given out yearly. The scheme aims to provide more support to lower- and middle-income Singaporean households, as part of our overall system of taxes and transfers. It cost the Government about $830 million in FY2020.

In 2012, the Government established a GST Voucher Fund to make payments under the scheme to eligible Singaporeans. The Fund provides certainty of payments regardless of the prevailing economic circumstances. If necessary, the Government can make further injections into the Fund to carry on financing this permanent GST Voucher scheme.

[6:36 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: I will look for it myself

[6:37 pm, 05/01/2022] +Rama: Does relocation elsewhere make a difference in living and wealth with the world as it is now!?

[6:37 pm, 05/01/2022] +JC: GST is not wrong, what we should scrutinize is how the additional money is spent and whether it is used in the right areas and not just for e short term benefit of poor but long term benefit of everyone

[6:44 pm, 05/01/2022] +Joseph: Fulllg agree on the part about how the $ is going to be spent .. 

My take is this .. the recent years were the only sustained period that we had run a persistent and relatively large deficit. The extra spending went mostly to supporting local businesses, ensuring adequate essential supplies continue to reach our shores, and providing extraordinary medical care for EVERYONE etc etc 

If this is not sufficient to convince us that our Govt will continue to put the $ to proper use, then i am not sure what will 😅

[6:44 pm, 05/01/2022] +REACH: Dear Contributors,

We’d love to hear more from you!

As such, we are extending the chats until 8pm today.

Megan 😊

[7:07 pm, 05/01/2022] +REACH: Dear Contributors

We’d love to hear more from you on today's topic 😊

We have had good feedback and hope that we can keep the discussion robust and active!

Megan

[7:17 pm, 05/01/2022] ☸️  Danny 心: 

MOH files police report against anti-vaccine group for inciting parents to disrupt vaccination centre operations.                                                                                                                            https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/community/moh-files-police-report-against-anti-vaccine-group-for-inciting-parents-to-disrupt-vaccination-centre-operations

[7:35 pm, 05/01/2022] +~N: This sounds like trickle down economics

[7:36 pm, 05/01/2022] +Joseph: No it’s not .. it’s simple Maths .. basic calculator and Pri school level maths

[7:38 pm, 05/01/2022] +~a: That's not trickle down economics

[7:40 pm, 05/01/2022] +~N: Oh yes, it's not, it's pri school level math

[7:40 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: And u both sound like the same person

[7:40 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: There is no need to get testy about it

[7:41 pm, 05/01/2022] +~a: Why is it trickle down economics?

[7:46 pm, 05/01/2022] +Fulgrim: Insults are unnecessary . In any case , your whole logic is based on the data that majority of tax revenue is from the top 5% income . I will look into this before I come back

[7:48 pm, 05/01/2022] +Elena Woo: They always peg to take salary before deducting CPF. It should be peg to take home salary instead

[7:53 pm, 05/01/2022] +ALEX: From Ministry of Finance Nov 2019:

The top 10% of individuals who pay Personal Income Tax (PIT) contribute about 80% of PIT

https://www.mof.gov.sg/docs/default-source/resource/gst/pdf/8-why-don't-we-tax-the-wealthy-more.pdf

[7:53 pm, 05/01/2022] +REACH: Dear Contributors,

⏰ We will be closing the chat in 10 minutes ⏰

Thank you very much for being part of our WhatsApp chat and participating actively.

Goodnight!

Megan

[8:01 pm, 05/01/2022] +REACH: Dear Contributors,

We will be closing the chat for today.

Thank you very much for being part of our WhatsApp chat and participating actively.

Goodnight!

Megan 😊

====

REACH 304 - What are your views on the Government’s latest measures in response to Omicron? How are you coping to live with the latest COVID-19 variant? (SK)

03 Jan 2022 (10am - 7pm)

REACH

[9:55 am, 03/01/2022] +REACH: Dear Contributors,

Welcome back! 😊

⏰ We will be opening the chat from 10am to 7pm today. ⏰

House Rules (short version of our Terms of Use) to keep in mind: 

1. Be kind and respectful. We all want to be in a safe space to share our views. 

2. Any and all threatening, abusive, vulgar or racially, religiously and ethnically objectionable content is prohibited.

3. Consider the quiet ones among us and give them a chance to comment.

4. No need to repeat your comment or in different forms (including caps) - we heard you loud and clear the first time.

5. Let’s protect each other’s privacy and keep contact details in this group what it should always be - confidential. 

Full set of Terms of Use: https://go.gov.sg/reach-whatsapp-terms

We will strive to uphold these rules to ensure this is a safe space for all.

Please be assured that the points made by participants during the chat are aggregated and shared with relevant agencies.

The topic will be posted shortly.

Thank you

Megan 😊

[10:00 am, 03/01/2022] +REACH: 📢 Topic 📢 

Singapore must expect a new wave of Covid-19 cases in the coming days and weeks, said Minister Lawrence Wong following the emergence of the Omicron variant in November 2021.

"It is inevitable that Omicron will spread in our community as it has in countries everywhere," said Mr Wong on 27 Dec (Mon).

"But we have done whatever we can to prepare for this next wave, and we can weather through it together as one people."

💬 What are your views on the Government’s latest measures in response to Omicron? How are you coping to live with the latest COVID-19 variant?

Omicron has been found to be more transmissible but less severe than the previous Delta variant, and current vaccines and boosters remain effective against it, said Mr Wong. Thus far, none of the cases here has been severe, and infected individuals have not required oxygen supplementation or intensive care, MOH added.

The Government’s latest measures aimed at weathering the latest stage of the pandemic include:

📌 Extension of enhanced testing regime for VTL travellers: https://str.sg/wYoM

📌 Omicron cases to recover at home, community care facilities from 27 Dec: https://str.sg/wxEf

📌 From 15 Jan, unvaccinated workers not allowed to return to workplace even with negative pre-event test: https://str.sg/wxEW

📌 From 27 Dec, vaccinations for Primary 4 to 6 pupils rolled out: https://str.sg/wxHS

📌 From 5 Jan, registration for Covid-19 vaccine to open for Primary 1 to 3 pupils: https://str.sg/wx7D

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[10:08 am, 03/01/2022] +~N: I do not understand why unvaccinated workers are not allowed to return to workplace with negative PET

[10:10 am, 03/01/2022] +Joseph: Could it be that other workers in the office are uncomfortable with the idea that an unvaxxed person in their midst?

[10:15 am, 03/01/2022] +~N: I'm not sure. It doesn't seem reasonable to me. If ART/PCR/PET are valid, why are they not acceptable for entry to workplace

[10:24 am, 03/01/2022] +Joseph: Is it reasonable for unvaxxed persons to accept that the majority who are vaxxed, MIGHT prefer not to be in close confined quarters over extended periods with an unvaxxed person even though the person might have tested ART/PCR/PET negative? We all know the tests are not 100% accurate, and its probably unacceptable for the unvaxxed to be tested daily, neither is there a way for the unvaxxed to prove that they did the necessary tests ... and frankly, who would believe a Vax-refuser would obediently follow the (same) Govt's directive to self-test? 

Just saying the above is a possibility. I am vaxxed and have no issues if the Govt decides to allow unvaxxed persons in the workplace (with or without a -ve ART/PCR/PET test), mainly because I do not have any vulnerable persons in my household, which some others may.

[11:00 am, 03/01/2022] +Smiley face: Non VTL 😲😝🤭

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/covid-19-vtl-arrival-pcr-tests-shn-omicron-2409406

[11:10 am, 03/01/2022] +BL: Makes sense. What's the point of the on arrival test if they have to quarantine anyway, and had to get a pre departure negative test...

[11:12 am, 03/01/2022] +BL: Overall I'm impressed by the gov response to a 2 year pandemic. Despite some slips early on they have shown to be responsive and consistent. All moving in the right direction and have proven to have made good choices in the past.

[11:25 am, 03/01/2022] +JkL: How may i know for those stay home notice, are the family who stay together able to work  or school?

[11:48 am, 03/01/2022] +Elena Woo: Families who have children less than 5 years old should be wfh by default.

[11:49 am, 03/01/2022] +Elena Woo: Because vaccines still not available for those less than 5 years old!

[11:49 am, 03/01/2022] +Elena Woo: And esp children who have covid reinfection are at higher risk of MIS-C.

[11:50 am, 03/01/2022] +Elena Woo: And those who are infected with delta are still at risk of being reinfected with omicron

[0:03 pm, 03/01/2022] ☸️  Danny 心: 

1. To tackle Omicron, 2 jabs plus booster is the only way.

2. mRNA vaccines seems to be more effective against Omicron according to various reports.

3. Masks, social distancing still need to be observed as Omicron is much more transmissible.

[0:03 pm, 03/01/2022] ☸️  Danny 心: 

4. Our booster rate is at 41% total population. And all eligible population is at 91% vaccination - is a good vaccination effort.

9% more vaccination to go.

5. Looking forward, we should be more and more confident living with Omicron and future variants with such high vaccination rate.

6. We should persevere in getting the rest of the population vaccinated with booster - and we can eventually outlast the covid pandemic

[0:09 pm, 03/01/2022] +JC: I disagree on a blanket ban preventing unvaccinated workers to return to the workplace because - 

(1) the risk is on the individual who is unvaccinated as he/she is more susceptible to severe infection - however, this risk is not the same across all unvaccinated individuals. Those who are younger, fitter, are at low risk of severe disease even if they are unvaccinated. Ultimately, after 2 years, individuals - especially those at working age, should have an idea of their own risk appetite when it comes to COVID, let the individuals decide. 

(2) I am very uncomfortable that the government think it is right to mess with an individual's livelihood due to the healthcare choices that he/she made. The right to work and employment is basic and the bar to protect this right should be higher. 

(3) COVID is becoming less severe with (a) new variants (b) much more knowledge on available treatment (c) large % of population are vaccinated (d) health capacity has expanded. While it could have been more justifiable 1 year - 6 months ago to implement such measures, I struggle to see why these measures will make any discernible difference to public health today and moving forward.

[0:11 pm, 03/01/2022] +Smiley face: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-03/israel-offers-fourth-dose-of-covid-vaccine/100735462

[0:11 pm, 03/01/2022] +Smiley face: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/01/02/world/omicron-covid-vaccine-tests

[0:12 pm, 03/01/2022] +Smiley face: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israel-flurona-coronavirus-covid-influenza-b1985281.html?amp

[0:17 pm, 03/01/2022] +JC: While it is good that vax is available for children - I would strongly urge the government to not mandate vaccination for children given that the risk-benefit data for young children is still uncertain. Reasons:

(1) Covid is becoming less virulent -> even more so for children

(2) Trial for Pfizer vax approval for children only consider COVID infection as the relevant outcome - there is no comparison of hospitalization rates and/or rates of severe disease. Given that children almost always present with mild disease, the benefit of vaccination is unclear.

(3) AE data for vaccines may have been under-reported due to worldwide governmental concerns over vaccine hesitancy. 

At best, the data is not unequivocal that the benefits of childhood vaccination outweighs the risks. Govt should let parents decide as each family circumstances and the individual health status of the child is different -> e.g. some children may be at higher risk? (e.g. children of healthcare workers, children with underlying respiratory illness, etc.)

[1:03 pm, 03/01/2022] +Smiley face: https://www.tiktok.com/@imnosimpp/video/7047906523971964161?sender_device=mobile&sender_web_id=7048590604569363969&is_from_webapp=v1&is_copy_url=0

[1:03 pm, 03/01/2022] +Smiley face: https://www.tiktok.com/@shihanahnafshoeb/video/7048115068407450881?sender_device=mobile&sender_web_id=7048590604569363969&is_from_webapp=v1&is_copy_url=0

[1:06 pm, 03/01/2022] ☸️  Danny 心: 

Covid-19 responsible for higher share of deaths from all causes for younger Americans.               

https://www.straitstimes.com/world/united-states/covid-19-responsible-for-higher-share-of-deaths-from-all-causes-for-younger-americans

[1:07 pm, 03/01/2022] ☸️  Danny 心: 

Unvaccinated populations fuel the emergence of COVID-19 variants.                                            https://www.channelnewsasia.com/commentary/covid-omicron-variant-vaccine-booster-delta-transmission-rate-fatal-case-endemic-2396066

[1:09 pm, 03/01/2022] +Smiley face: Shoppers throng Orchard Road in the weekend before Christmas

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/consumer/shoppers-throng-orchard-road-in-the-weekend-before-christmas

[1:20 pm, 03/01/2022] ☸️  Danny 心: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/it-could-be-a-long-road-to-recovery-even-after-patients-get-all-clear-from-covid-19                                                                                       It could be a long road to recovery, even after patients get all-clear from Covid-19.

[1:20 pm, 03/01/2022] ☸️  Danny 心: 

New York sees increase in hospitalised children as Omicron hammers US.                                      https://www.straitstimes.com/world/united-states/new-york-sees-increase-in-hospitalised-children-as-omicron-hammers-us

[1:20 pm, 03/01/2022] ☸️  Danny 心: 

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/us-alarm-rise-child-covid-070044256.html

US alarm at rise in children infection.

[1:22 pm, 03/01/2022] +Laurent: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3SCsueX2bZdbEzRtKOCEyT

3 hours well spent

[1:33 pm, 03/01/2022] +jimmy chew: About?

[1:33 pm, 03/01/2022] +Joseph: I think the argument misses 1 very important point - OTHER PEOPLE

Fully agree with you concerning personal risk matrix/considerations - esp. for younger people with no underlying co-morbidities. However, by now, we should have realised that CV19 is not just a communicable disease, but rather, it is "community disease". Our individual decisions/actions WILL affect OTHER PEOPLE as well.

We all know that a young, healthy unvaxxed individual is more likely to carry a higher viral load if infected, even if he/she is asymptomatic or exhibit only mild symptoms. This means the person is more likely to pass on the virus to someone else, maybe a vaxxed colleague, who similar may become an asymptomatic carrier. If this person has vulnerable family members living in the same household, we are putting them at higher risk of infection and potentially death.

Is it fair? 

Is it not clear by now that either group will have to be "inconvenienced"?  So the question is, does it make more sense to "inconvenience" the larger (vaxxed) population, or the smaller (unvaxxed) one, bearing in mind, that if it is really such an "inconvenience", there is a simple solution >> to vaccinate.... like everyone else.

[1:34 pm, 03/01/2022] +JC: +1

[1:39 pm, 03/01/2022] +Joseph: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-31/kids-covid-hospitalizations-reach-record-level-in-omicron-surge

[1:41 pm, 03/01/2022] +Laurent: Dr Malone is the inventor of MRNA vaccine

[1:43 pm, 03/01/2022] +JC: from the article....

"In a call with reporters Wednesday, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky downplayed the role of Covid in kids’ hospital admissions. 

“Many children are hospitalized with Covid as opposed to because of Covid,” she said on the call. She was echoed by Karen Acker, a pediatric infectious diseases specialist and hospital epidemiologist at NewYork-Presbyterian Komansky Children’s Hospital."

[1:43 pm, 03/01/2022] +jimmy chew: Thanks 🙏

[1:45 pm, 03/01/2022] +BL: Although I support and recommend vaccine for kids, it is hard to mandate it at this stage. Parents are emotional and volatile creatures and won't take kindly to be forced to vaccinate! I speak from experience..  lol

[1:46 pm, 03/01/2022] +JC: If COVID remains a severe disease, I agree with your point. However, data suggests that it is becoming milder - is it more virulent than influenza at this point? Should we then also mandate influenza vaccines for all workers?

[1:50 pm, 03/01/2022] +JC: BTW I already have my booster jab, I understand the need for vax for adults... but trying to balance that vs. the rights of individuals to make a living while maintaining autonomy about their own health. At this point, with less severe disease, I lean towards not having workplace mandates.

[1:53 pm, 03/01/2022] +JC: Yes indeed! But it's also cos the data to vax kids are not as compelling at this point... if better data becomes available, I think some would consider and change their mind. The situation (and the virus) is evolving and at the moment, there's not the same urgency to vax children (vs. the risks) compared to when we needed to vax the adult population for the sake of re-opening and healthcare capacity.

[1:53 pm, 03/01/2022] +BL: It's not just their health, that's been the consistent problem. If it was just about them no one would force it. It's about protecting everyone.

[1:55 pm, 03/01/2022] +JC: yes I understand that point... but how much protection is enough? If vulnerable are already vaccinated, and disease is now milder. Put yourself in the shoes of someone who - for whatever reason, believe that vaccine is harmful for them - and then is forced to choose between livelihood and health. It's very tough!

[1:56 pm, 03/01/2022] +JC: Again, if COVID is becoming more virulent, then perhaps the mandate would be more justifiable... just trying to highlight that the weight of the mandate is quite heavy.

[1:57 pm, 03/01/2022] +BL: Yes, very hard to monitor and enforce people are doing the PET. How much does PET cost every day anyway?

[1:57 pm, 03/01/2022] +JC: Remember - even if we are vaccinated, we go about daily lives without restrictions - even if we have vulnerable family at home. And we are supposed to work towards COVID being endemic.

[1:57 pm, 03/01/2022] +BL: Seems that is a huge financial burden

[1:58 pm, 03/01/2022] +BL: Cannot go about daily lives already. No mall, no restaurant, no gym, no cinema  etc.

[1:58 pm, 03/01/2022] +JC: yes, so actually if unvax test (and pay for it themselves), negative test results should be good enough no?

[1:58 pm, 03/01/2022] +BL: I mean for unvax

[1:59 pm, 03/01/2022] +JC: current regulation is they are not allowed to return even if they are tested negative.

[1:59 pm, 03/01/2022] +BL: Hard to monitor I suspect.

[1:59 pm, 03/01/2022] +JC: ah, I was saying that vaccinates individuals are doing normal stuff, and getting infected left-right-center anyway.

[2:00 pm, 03/01/2022] +JC: vax people are spreading to vax people all the time, mostly asymptomatic

[2:00 pm, 03/01/2022] +BL: Well not exactly. Numbers are in a few hundred not thousands

[2:00 pm, 03/01/2022] +JC: so if we allow that type of spreading to happen

[2:00 pm, 03/01/2022] +BL: Not really no.

[2:00 pm, 03/01/2022] +JC: not true... there are many many undiagnosed cases

[2:00 pm, 03/01/2022] +JC: for sure

[2:00 pm, 03/01/2022] +BL: How do you know?

[2:00 pm, 03/01/2022] +BL: If they are not diagnosed.

[2:00 pm, 03/01/2022] +jimmy chew: Yeah because it's 97 percent effective. They are the 3 percent 😜

[2:01 pm, 03/01/2022] +BL: 🤦‍♂️

[2:01 pm, 03/01/2022] +JC: 97% effective in preventing severe disease/hospitalization

[2:01 pm, 03/01/2022] +JC: not in preventing infection

[2:01 pm, 03/01/2022] +JC: breakthrough infection is very normal

[2:01 pm, 03/01/2022] +JC: u see the figures

[2:02 pm, 03/01/2022] +BL: So it's 3 in 100 getting infected, not 100 in 100. I know which is the better choice

[2:02 pm, 03/01/2022] +BL: Are we really debating getting vaccinated again?

[2:03 pm, 03/01/2022] +JC: no no... vaccination for adults, esp at risk population makes 100% sense

[2:03 pm, 03/01/2022] +BL: Ok, yes that's the evidence.

[2:03 pm, 03/01/2022] +JC: cos it prevents severe disease/hospitalization

[2:03 pm, 03/01/2022] +Joseph: Stop spreading misinformation perpetuated by an "American podcaster, UFC color commentator, comedian, actor, and former television presenter*. Yes, that is what Joe Rogan is/ No where in his career/life has he been anything close to a medically trained professional. Just like a scientist is not going to re=write his scripts, Joe R. should not re-write Science.

Dr Robert Malone, is NOT the investor of mRNA vaccinces... he is self-proclaimed inventor of mRNA vaccines. He did contribute to mRNA, but he did not invent it.

mRNA studies began as far back as the 1960s. 

As a graduate student in 1987, Dr R. Malone, conducted a successful experiment mixing mRNA strands with fat to produce a molecular stew that allowed Human cells bathed in this genetic gumbo to ab…

[2:03 pm, 03/01/2022] +BL: So that's why gov says get vaccinated.

[2:04 pm, 03/01/2022] +BL: What's the problem?

[2:04 pm, 03/01/2022] +JC: yes correct nothing wrong.

Correction is this > vaccination reduces chances of infection but not by 97%... it's much less effective in preventing infection compared to preventing hospitalization.

[2:05 pm, 03/01/2022] +JC: so vaccinated people are getting infected all the time... but it'll mostly be mild or asymptomatic

[2:05 pm, 03/01/2022] +BL: Which seems a good option.

[2:05 pm, 03/01/2022] +BL: But we'd rather no one  got infected

[2:06 pm, 03/01/2022] +Joseph: Also from the article... in fact, the start of the article:

" the growing number of cases means more children are susceptible to serious illness. New hospital admissions of kids with Covid-19 have increased 66% ..."

"“The majority of our hospitalized kids are in the hospital because they are sick with Covid symptoms,” said Roberta DeBiasi, the hospital’s infectious disease chief. It’s rare for children to arrive for another reason and be incidentally diagnosed with Covid, she said."

[2:06 pm, 03/01/2022] +BL: And 'all the time ' means what? A couple of hundred out of 5million.

[2:06 pm, 03/01/2022] +Joseph: He is NOT the inventor or mRNA vaccines

[2:07 pm, 03/01/2022] +JC: well.... not really, we are moving to living with the virus. Meaning that everyone will get covid at some point. 

Ideally vaccinated so it'll be mild and don't stress the health system.

We are not vaccinating to prevent infection... because that's not what the vaccines promises to do :)

[2:11 pm, 03/01/2022] +JC: I think his claim is that he's the holder of a number of patents that are used in the development of the mRNA vaccine. So really depends on whether you'd consider that part of being an "inventor"...

[2:11 pm, 03/01/2022] +JC: yep... same article. So who should we believe? Or should they cancel each other out and we just consider this a article nonsense?

[2:14 pm, 03/01/2022] +BL: Semantics - I'm sure you agree we'd rather no one got infected, while I agree that it's not likely to happen that way (Until maybe when vaccine is further refined).

[2:16 pm, 03/01/2022] +Joseph: I know where you are coming from, and I also share your sentiments about protecting everyone's livelihood ... BUT ... is it not important to consider the majority's needs as well?

These vax-refusers want to wait it out, let others (stupid/crazy people according to them) be genuine pigs because they can afford to risk it with the virus - maybe young, healthy, no vulnerable members in household . The rest take the risk with the vax because the alternative - putting their vulnerable family members at risk - is not an option.

IT should be very obvious now, that the unvaxxed are perfect hosts for the virus to infect, transmit and mutate - just look at countries like South Africa. Its not a coincidence that so many variants of concern are from SA. They can host …

[2:16 pm, 03/01/2022] +JC: I think you should listen to the podcast first... Rogan never claim to be a medical professional and he's always made it clear that he's not one and he's just speaking from his own experience/observations. He'd ask his guests - in this case Dr Malone, who is an expert in his area - questions and hear them out. 

Malone is obviously controversial as his stand deviates from the mainstream consensus but the whole point he is making is that some of the decisions made by FDA/CDC/governments are not entirely foolproof and based on robust data. It's worth listening to his POV, compare notes, and make your own assessment on what makes sense.

[2:17 pm, 03/01/2022] +jimmy chew: Not everyone is such. Some really have medical reasons and complications

[2:19 pm, 03/01/2022] +REACH: More than 280,000 households receive $30 public transport vouchers

More than 280,000 letters have been sent out to households here, notifying them to redeem a $30 public transport voucher that can be used to top up fare cards or buy monthly concession passes.

This is slightly less than half of the 600,000 public transport vouchers that have been set aside to help lower-income commuters cope with the latest public transport fare hike, which kicked in on Dec 26 last year.

More: https://str.sg/wg4H

[2:22 pm, 03/01/2022] +JC: I respect your POV but don't share it, nonetheless, don't wish to be argumentative or to "divide" people based on their positions on these issues. My position is not fixed and prepared to adjust as more data/info becomes available. 

I do feel that vaccines AE are under-reported though - have been hearing more cases (direct contacts) of individuals who developed post vax AE but doctors don't report due to its sensitive nature, plus it's really hard to prove direct biological links.

[2:22 pm, 03/01/2022] +Joseph: I WAS in 2 minds about vax for our youngest family member as well.... in the end, decided to go ahead and book the appointment,

My reaons were:

1. the vaccine has been proven to be very safe

2. so far, data has shown that the vaccine is effective in reducing virulence

3. SG borders are opening up whether you like it or not. Which means we new variants incoming + higher probability of encountering the virus. I want to be as prepared as possible when that happens, rather than be tormented with the thought of "what if" in case we are "unlucky ones"

[2:22 pm, 03/01/2022] +JC: Having said that - I still support adult vaccines, again this is weighing up both the pros/cons. 

I think our national vax rates is already very high... we don't need 100%.

[2:26 pm, 03/01/2022] +JC: Fair enough.... would suggest you do take a closer look at the Pfizer trial for young children vaccination that the FDA used for emergency approval though. 

The outcome variable is infection (not severe disease/hospitalization), plus there's limited follow up, plus the sample size is too small to capture AEs like myocarditis, plus there's no monitoring of AEs that might not surface immediately. 

All in all, it is true that vaccine will reduce likelihood of infection - but it does not necessarily mean that severe disease/hospitalization will be reduced. Long term safety is unknown as the follow up is too short and sample too small.

[2:28 pm, 03/01/2022] +JC: But again, not saying that you need to change your mind but just wanted to share that it is plausible that a more prudent approach to childhood vaccination can be understandable too... esp if you weigh it against the likely benefits in the context of a weakening disease.

[2:29 pm, 03/01/2022] +JC: I think childhood vax can still make sense for some children as every child is different - every family is different.

[2:30 pm, 03/01/2022] +JC: I just want to say we shouldn't mandate it unless there's much better data

[2:31 pm, 03/01/2022] +JC: remember that conventional vaccines trials usually take MUCH longer than what we have allowed for mRNA vaccines. We short circuited it cos of the emergency caused by the pandemic. It is not normal to approve vaccines so quickly.

[2:32 pm, 03/01/2022] +JC: From a regulatory perspective, we took the shortcuts cos it was necessary. but we need to recognize that the approvals are not based on data at a level that's usually accepted in normal circumstanes.

[2:33 pm, 03/01/2022] +Joseph: actually not very true. We need to get infected in order to trigger a strong and permanent T-cell response/immunity.... the vaccine is not 100% required, but having been vaccinated increases the likelihood that:

1. we will not fall seriously ill when infected

2. the virus is not able to replicate as quickly 

>> lower viral load >> less viral shed >> less infectious >> less likelihood of mutations

I think the G/MOH is trying to increase the probabilty of encountering the virus now that the majority of our population is fully vaccinated, but at the same time, keeping the unvaxxed - who are perfect reservoir foir virus mutation - away to lower the likelihood of new variants emerging.

[2:35 pm, 03/01/2022] +Joseph: Vaxxed people will still get infected... the current mRNA vaccines are only 40-50% successful (if I recall correctly) in preventing infection from Delta. The main difference is that the vaccines prevent the virus from replicating too quickly, thus buying our body time to mount a T-cell immune response and keeping the symptoms mild while our body fights the infection.

[2:39 pm, 03/01/2022] +Joseph: I think both are true. Which means there are other unknown variables at play here. Which does not take away the fact that the earlier statement from Dr Roberta DeBiasi is also true.

So, considering it is a known possibility - and maybe because I am kiasu/kiasi - it makes more sense to me to err on the side of caution ie. that Omicron MAY BE more dangerous for kids..... because ignoring this and being wrong, to me, has higher costs/consequences than the other way around.

[2:42 pm, 03/01/2022] +Joseph: I want to eventually be infected.... but not until all my family members are fully vaxxed/boosted .... it is a necessary step towards gaining full immunity.

[2:52 pm, 03/01/2022] ☸️  Danny 心: 

1. With 50% workforce reporting to office.

2. Schools reopening and children going back to schools.

3. Mentally we will have to be prepared for more Omicron infection cases.

4. The last 2 days see a small spike in infection cases - with Omicron contributing about half or slightly less to the total infection cases.

[3:06 pm, 03/01/2022] ☸️  Danny 心: 

1. The last 2 days we have seen about 400 over cases.

2. Now with more people reporting to work and more children going back to schools - let see whether it will breach the 1000 over cases again - as people debate whether to vaccinate or get boosted or not.

[3:09 pm, 03/01/2022] ☸️  Danny 心: 

3. Also important to watch are the hospitalisation number as well as the death number (which has been reporting very low number).

[3:11 pm, 03/01/2022] +Joseph: I will definitely find time to listen to this other rant of his... 😂

True what you say about him making all the necessary disclaimers .. but it does not take away the fact that he is enriching himself by feeding into the anti-vax/conspiracy theory narrative/frenzy. 

Also kind of agree on the part that "some of the decisions made by FDA/CDC/governments are not entirely foolproof and based on robust data"....

But my point is this .... end of the day, there are still many unknowns wrt this virus/pandemic ... is it the right thing to do, to sow more distrust and confusion? Which has a worse outcome? To be wrong about the virus or the vaccine? 😅 Would you leave a toddler to decide on his career choices even after explaining to him/her as much as you can, wha…

[3:11 pm, 03/01/2022] +Joseph: Yes... and that is an even smaller minority, which the G/MOH has made concessions for.

[3:13 pm, 03/01/2022] +Stella Yip: Still see smokers mask down waiting and cross at pedestrian crossings with other people. As I smell their smoke I try to move away as much as I can. I really hope G will have rule for these smokers to stay still and smoke at designated spaces only.

[3:17 pm, 03/01/2022] +JkL: +1

[3:19 pm, 03/01/2022] +BL: +1

[3:22 pm, 03/01/2022] +JC: I've been a long time listener of the Rogan podcast, it's actually mostly entertaining but also sometimes provide interesting POV on a wide range of topics.

Some points to note:

- He's not enriching himself by feeding into the frenzy... he's already very rich, especially after the Spotify money thrown at him before the pandemic. (he's one of the top podcasts in the US for a long long time)

- He's actually a left leaning individual on many social issues but also have some preference in terms of gun rights/freedom of speech. He's actually not very republican if you really listen to him often enough. Like most normal people who think for themselves, he has a mix of beliefs/preferences that don't neatly fall into the typical left/right wing divide. 

- He's recently invited the doctor from CNN (Sanjay Gupta) on his show as well. Completely left-wing guy :) Go check it out. Apparently left-wing people are afraid of going on his shows cos they are worried about getting cancelled. 

- The cool thing about the podcast is that it is long form so you can hear the guest really expand on their ideas/positions - not every guest looks good at the end, sometimes the more they say, the more you realize they are dodgy. Ultimately, it's helpful contextual info and leaves the listeners more info to make a judgement for themselves. 

- Many of his guests are highly credible scientists (he even had Sir Roger Penrose on his show once)... and as I work in healthcare, I can confirm that the POV shared by the healthcare related guests are really interesting/credible.

[3:27 pm, 03/01/2022] +Joseph: Will re-subscribe to his podcast and give it another go 😉  No harm getting another point of view

[3:28 pm, 03/01/2022] +JC: 👍 it's good fun to listen when working out or running... enjoy :D

[3:28 pm, 03/01/2022] +Joseph: 👍

[3:30 pm, 03/01/2022] +JC: Actually come to think of it, he's probably the most wide-ranging, non-partisan, interviewer I know... who else can claim to have Dave Chapelle, Alex Jones, Bernie Sanders and Ben Shapiro to be guests on their show?

[3:30 pm, 03/01/2022] +Smiley face: https://youtu.be/3jT59eDDB7U

[3:32 pm, 03/01/2022] +JC: +1

[3:32 pm, 03/01/2022] +JC: Fauci is 100% more dodgy than Malone... haha

[4:06 pm, 03/01/2022] +Smiley face: Omicron cases now make up 17% of Covid-19 infections in S'pore: Ong Ye Kung

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/omicron-cases-now-make-up-17-of-covid-19-infections-in-spore-ong-ye-kung

[4:06 pm, 03/01/2022] +Smiley face: Philippines faces biggest ever Covid-19 surge, Omicron could be dominant strain before end-January  

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/philippines-faces-biggest-ever-covid-19-surge-omicron-could-be-dominant-strain-by-january

[4:56 pm, 03/01/2022] +Anthony: The public transport hike price ,G should know who else CPF account was consider Low income family rather then the public have to apply themselves for Transport Voucher.

Government should have bigger heart seeing our Low Income group was one big part of SG success not just the white collar job or seating at home job like WFH but those who sacrifice themselves for going out in raining days to work, 

This Low Income group deserve alot more

I suggest Government should continue to uphold the right for Low Income & Part Timer given them more help in every way like SRV Voucher for another round 

They seldom go overseas for holiday

Government should do more for this group 

Given them to explore SG  more & meanwhile giving them credit for their hardship

Not many white collar workers can carry tons of goods like storeman as well stood various hours a day & provide customer service to our customers like Retail Associate

As well our cleaning auntie & uncle taking the risk of Covid 19 situation just to continue to work to made end needs

Government should given more to Low Income Group they are our Pillar at our homeland

[5:54 pm, 03/01/2022] +Smiley face: All eyes on progress of S'pore's reopening, VTL expansion for 2022 economic outlook

https://www.straitstimes.com/business/economy/all-eyes-on-progress-of-spores-reopening-vtl-expansion-for-2022-economic-outlook

[6:45 pm, 03/01/2022] +REACH: Dear Contributors,

⏰ We will be closing the chat in 15 minutes ⏰

Thank you very much for being part of our WhatsApp chat and participating actively.

Goodnight!

Megan

[6:58 pm, 03/01/2022] +Smiley face: 3 January, 2022

To:  Distinguished MTF and All Honorable Members  ( A Happy New Year!) 

"Opinion is the medium between knowledge and ignorance." 

- - Plato

What:

This fair and logical assumptions that include known or unknown side effects of all vaccines, since 1947 known to humanity these medical interventions for diseases - aka vaccine! 

A new revelation and the nova nano technology of future medicines is the mRNA way! Whereas the traditional and old school of Vaccine manufacturing is the non-mRNA which also contains "sleeping virus" spikes protein. All vaccines produce Spike Proteins to mitigate against a targeted disease or virus replication. Administering any one of the above vaccine protocol is simply one's choice which is a separate matter. 

When:

Whether an individual vaccinated, partial, lapsed or none, the common sense approach perhaps is to maintain one's daily health, adequate sleep time, exercise regularly and natural immunity through healthier foods intake and supplements so that Covid spikes and/or Artificial Spikes either mRNA or non active spikes will not overly ACT UP inside a human body. 

Where:

A Train Story - - 

Our inborn natural immunity is like a child train set. 

Each carriage carries loads of different immunity with specific item or a consignment of goods, DNAs. 

There is a finite count of these "chain linked" carriages that the locomotive torque will pull and push to achieve an optimum pace and speed. 

When the cargo train reaches point B, some or non of the cargo or one carriage receives new item, the existing goods will have to be SQUEEZED onto the carriage or simply unload the existing goods and top it up with the new goods into this cargo. Assume all loaded goods are safe and non-flammable. 

When the train master whistle blows same goes the mighty full ahead steam engine grinding gear to gear, this journey reaches point Z, it will have more than half or half or less than half of the original cargos. 

Along the long and winding journey there is an unknown chance of thief, breakdown and stoppage. 

What's the lessons in this toy train story? 

Choice - - 

The idea of a pre-determined (qualified & quantified) sets of Considerations and Concerns that will derive a CHOICE (decision) whether is YES, NO or MAYBE!

This concept is applicable to daily lives, social and economics decisions and this case a medical decision.

News & Video:

https://www.straitstimes.com/business/economy/all-eyes-on-progress-of-spores-reopening-vtl-expansion-for-2022-economic-outlook

https://youtu.be/3jT59eDDB7U

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israel-flurona-coronavirus-covid-influenza-b1985281.html?amp

Siblings can take Covid-19 child jabs together in one appointment from Jan 10

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/covid-19-child-vaccinations-siblings-can-walk-in-together-for-jab-without-appointment-from-jan-10

"He who knows all the answers has not been asked all the questions." 

- -  Confucius

"Life's like a play: it's not the length, but the excellence of the acting that matters."

- -  Lucius Annaeus Seneca

[7:00 pm, 03/01/2022] +REACH: Dear Contributors,

We will be closing the chat for today.

Thank you very much for being part of our WhatsApp chat and participating actively.

Goodnight!

Megan 😊

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