Quora Answer: Has the Singapore Government Made the Right Decision to “Live with the Virus”?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “As of February 2022, has the Singapore government made the right decision to ‘living with the virus’ and end travel restrictions in view of the dominance of Omicron?” 

The virus is not going to go away anytime soon.  We are likely to continue to see further variants.  However, with the vast majority of the population vaccinated, and other measures in place, we have ensured that it would unlikely that our healthcare system would be overwhelmed with severe cases of infection.  This means that we have largely addressed the policy contentions on the healthcare front, as well as resilience of the population. 

Th next step is to address the economy.  There is no point in keeping the population cloistered if we are all eventually killing ourselves economically.  Singapore is an international trade and business centre.  Our standard of living is dependent on us maintaining our competitiveness.  We were always going to open up.  We only needed our major trade partners to get the pandemic under reasonable control and open their borders before we reciprocated.

Quora Answer: Does Singapore Want to Vaccinate the Population so We Can Open the Borders?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “I suspect that one of the main reasons the Singapore government is getting herd immunity for the population is to further open our borders fully.  What do you think?” 

The entire purpose of having the population vaccinated is so that we can get back to some semblance of business as usual.  That is common sense.  Singapore is a trade hub, an international port and airport, a major financial centre, a tourist destination.  The economy depends on open borders.  Shutting down the economy cost us billions per day, which us unsustainable. 

A successful vaccination programme gives us a good starting point to arrange travel bubbles with countries with similarly low levels of infection, and high levels of vaccination.  The intent is to eventually expand this travel bubble, and hopefully encompass most of our major trade partners.  Your question is simply stating the obvious.

The Global Pandemics Affects Future Insurance Coverage

If there is one thing the global pandemic highlighted, it is that adequate health and life insurance coverage cannot be over-stated.  Insurance work by pooling risk.  When we have an event that breaks the risk management model, involving massive payouts to the majority of the people insured, it affects the model for risk management for those entering the risk pool later.  In effect, the entry barriers are higher.  This can be seen in longer waiting periods, to higher premiums for coverage, to limitations in coverage. 

We are not going to see the last of these kinds of pandemics.  They may not be global, but there is a high chance of regional outbreaks.  And when we have gotten some measure of control over Covid19, there are entire families of viruses that we are still vulnerable to.  As such, health insurance is both a priority on a personal, and a national policy level.

There is Money in Healthcare Long after the Pandemic

Pandemics comes and go, but there is still money to be made in healthcare.  Once the dust dies down with global vaccination efforts, pharmaceutical companies will be serving a growing customer demographic that is essentially a captive customer base – ageing populations in developed countries.  Due to advances in healthcare, people are living longer, and surviving critical illnesses for longer periods of time.  Medical inflation is well into double digits in wealthy countries, and even with measures to manage medical cost, demand will push supply for newer drugs and treatments.

Quora Answer: Why Did Singapore Announce a Lockdown Up to 01st June 2020?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “Why did Singapore suddenly announce a lockdown up to 01st June?  What went wrong in Singapore?”

Nothing went wrong.  The assumption here is that this circuit breaker, as the government calls it, is a policy failure.  It is a reaction to a developing situation, and that is how governments are supposed to work.  The lockdown has succeeded in mitigating the spread of the infection among the wider populace.  That makes it a policy success.  That it was done quickly, and a multi-ministerial task force delegated to address the testing, welfare, healthcare, and logistics of thousands of workers is a testament to efficiency.

There was a policy blindspot pertaining to the worker dormitories, and they proved to be excellent incubators due to the number of people in close proximity.  That is not a policy failure.  That is a management failure, and it will most certainly be addressed by policy.

Firstly, it highlights Singapore’s excessive reliance on cheap foreign labour.  This is something businesses in Singapore need to address, in partnership with the government.  We need to consider more automation, and wean sectors of our economy off their narcotic of cheap labour.  This means relooking the fundamental structure of businesses in these sectors.

Secondly, it highlights that the way dormitories are run in Singapore need more scrutiny.  Too many people are in the rooms,  no matter how clean they are.  The facilities are not adequate.  Considering the wealth of Singapore, this is not adequate.

The large number of infections reported should be understood in the context of the number of tests done.  Other countries in Southeast Asia have smaller numbers of official cases, but that is only because they do not have the resources or the system to test such numbers.  Relative to the population, and number of infections, the death rate is miniscule.