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Many people have grown tired of staying home, and some long to see other family members who do not live with them.
They are eager to spend a weekend with parents or siblings, when the children can play with their cousins. Take a deep breath. Think again Some super spreader events have stemmed from seemingly harmless gatherings.
One of the largest groups in Singapore, the 23-person Assembly of God Church group, got its start at a small Chinese New Year family gathering on Mei Hwan Drive.
A couple attended on January 25. One of them had no symptoms, while the other felt slightly ill.
What this pair didn’t realize was that when they had gone to The Life Church and Missions on January 19, they had contracted the virus that causes Covid-19 from another couple, both Chinese citizens of Wuhan.
The Singaporean husband and wife did not know the Chinese couple, both 56, who were in Singapore to visit their family and who had gone to church the day they landed here.
Wuhan’s couple became ill five days later, and it was confirmed that they had Covid-19 only on January 27.
Meanwhile, the local couple, a 54-year-old man and his 58-year-old wife, had already been infected.
One of them, most likely the woman, as she had felt slightly unwell before dinner, transmitted the virus to a 28-year-old man who lived on Mei Hwan Drive.
This was to mark the start of a large Covid-19 cluster.
The young man works at Grace Assembly of God Church and was among the first seven people at the Chinese New Year gathering who got sick and confirmed he had Covid-19. It became Case 66.
He then passed the virus on to others in the church. In total, through the Singapore couple, 23 people became infected in the Grace Assembly of God Church group.
For the local couple, who brought the virus to the Mei Hwan Drive meeting, the husband’s case was confirmed only on February 19.
The wife had already recovered by then, and her infection was discovered only because she underwent a serological test that confirmed that she had developed antibodies against Covid-19.
This pattern of apparently healthy people meeting and socializing only to realize later that someone among them had been infected with the coronavirus and passed it on to others, has become heartbreakingly familiar in Singapore.
Another example is dinner at the Joy Garden restaurant in Safra Jurong on February 15.
The celebration of the Chinese New Year dinner organized by a music teacher resulted in a total of 47 cases, including the person who started the chain of infections.
There are other groups here caused by people who socialize, like the Singapore Cricket Club group that reported six cases of infection, one of which died; and Hero’s, a sports bar at Boat Quay where nine people were infected.
“It would be really embarrassing if you transmitted the virus to others today because you visited when you shouldn’t,” said Professor Dale Fisher, a senior infectious disease expert at the National University Hospital (NUH).
Today, there are few excuses for anyone to unknowingly spread the virus to others through socialization, with the switches in place for four weeks, and socialization is not allowed, even with family members if they do not live in the same home.
Professor Fisher said one problem is that most people do not see themselves as vital gears to break the chain of transmission. He, on the other hand, has exactly the opposite view.
“I think it is irresponsible to leave if it is not necessary,” he said. “Each individual person must meet and stay home as much as possible.
“Ask yourself, do I have to go out? You may feel fine, but you actually still have the virus. Or the people you are with might have the virus and could infect it.
“So please, don’t visit anyone this long weekend.”
If everyone stays home for the four weeks, it should break the chain of transmission.
Another infectious disease expert, Associate Professor Hsu Li Yang of the NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health said that more stringent measures are currently in place, given the “dramatic increase in Covid-19 cases.”
But they can only work if everyone plays their part.
In less than three months since the first case was diagnosed here, more than 1,900 people have been infected and six have died.
Professor Hsu said, “Don’t ask, ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Suppose you won’t. Visiting loved ones and family members in person can happen again once the local epidemic is back under control and the restrictions are eased. “
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