Carry out a random test on the population

It is important for the government to carry out a random test to estimate the proportion of the population that has already been infected by the covid virus.

This will help them to make better decision on how to deal with the virus. They should avoid extreme measures that may be unnecessary and are so costly to the economy and to the livelihood of several hundred thousand families.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwIimYSTvlQ

A better way to capture contact tracing detail

China has introduced an app for contract tracing. The public has to use a mobile phone and scan a QR code. The app will show the color code and identify if the person is okay or need to be tested.

It is a good approach.

I have already developed a better approach. Instead of the public using a mobile phone (and some elderly people or children do not carry a mobile phone), they can use a QR code that is pasted to a transit card and use it for contact tracing.

As an alternative, a new transit card can be issued with the QR code already embedded. The public does not need to go through a separate process of pasting the QR code.

The checker will use a mobile phone to read the QR code. It works like the app in China but works in reverse.

I have prepared this video to show how my system works. I hope that the people in charge in Singapore can accept this idea. We can have a solution that is as good, actually better, than China.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcRQVUZOE4w&t=36s

Give your vote here:
https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=2904

Perhaps 7% of people in Singapore already got the virus

New York state carried out a random test and found 13.9% of the population already infected. The rate is 21.2% in New York City.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/04/23/coronavirus-new-york-millions-residents-may-have-been-infected-antibody-test/3012920001/

If a random test is carried out in Singapore, I expect to see a rate of 7% (one third of New York City). This means that 400,000 people in Singapore would have already been infected.

I estimate a lower rate in Singapore, compared to New York City, because of our warm climate. The WHO statistics showed that 12% of the people who have been tested are found to be positive. The testing was carried out mainly with the foreign workers and the people who have been in contact or with symptoms.

The government now reports very low new cases in the community. This is likely to be grossly understated. We are seeing a very low number because so few people are being tested.

Even though more people are likely to have been infected in Singapore, we do not need to panic. The death rate from the virus is quite low in Singapore. Very few people need ICU treatment.

We only need to worry when these numbers spite up many fold. So far, they have remain stable.

It is important for Singapore to carry out a random test now. The actual data will guide the policy makers to make better decisions on how to deal with the virus.

https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=2903

Wisdom of the Crowd - New Issues

1. What is the biggest mistake made by the ministerial task force?

2. Will the increase in infection lead to many deaths in Singapore?


Vote in
https://tklcloud.com/Crowd2/vote.aspx

WOTC - Use of data for contact tracing

Wisdom of the Crowd: 67% of the respondents support the use of mobile phone location data for contact tracing. 33% worry that it is invasion of privacy.

https://tklcloud.com/Crowd2/chart.aspx?ID=1952

WOTC - Accommodation for foreign workers

Wisdom of the Crowd: 38% of the respondents said that we should reduce our reliance on foreign workers. 62% said that we should provide better accommodation for them.

https://tklcloud.com/Crowd2/chart.aspx?ID=1953

Focus on useful activities to combat the covid-19 virus

I visited Greenwich V mall. I had to queue up before entering the mall. The security officer took the temperature of the shoppers. I recorded 35 C. I asked the officer to retake the temperature. It still record 35 C. I told her that I was just taken out of the fridge. 

It is clear that the temperature gun is not working properly. But the security officer does not know.

I had to record my name and contact number. The recording of this contact tracing details was what caused the delay in the queue.

I wonder how the contact tracing detail can be used. If an infected person visit the mall, will all the shoppers who visited the mall on the same day be traced?

I think that this is a waste of time. But we are doing it all the place, perhaps in a few thousand malls and offices. We have been doing it for several months.

Does the ministerial task force pay attention to this matter? Do they realize that they are distracting people from the real risks of spreading the disease, with the useless activities?

I prefer that the security officer spend the time to show people how they can use the sanitizers and help them check their face masks.

https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=2902

Death rate from covid-19 in Sweden

Some people said that Sweden did not impose a lockdown and that has led to a high death rate from covid-19.

I want to share the following facts.
https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=2898

Quora: Ask China to pay compensation for covid-19 losses

Yan Cao, former International Trade

Updated Apr 8

How likely is it Donald Trump will suggest China should pay compensation for the economic impact of covid-19 on the US and what would his reasoning be?

Yes,Trump should do that,why not?

But wait a minute, all of sudden I thought of some other countries. Vietnam might request America to pay 1000 billions of dollars for the lives Americans killed in Vietnam War. North Korea would increase that price tag to $10,000 billions. What about U.S. invasion of Iraq without finding Saddam’s MDW ? How many billions of dollars U.S. should pay to 151,000 people killed there ?

Cuba ,Venezuela and Iran would demand the U.S. to pay compensation for the huge loss caused by U.S. sanctions and embargo.

Hundreds of thousands of victims of 2009 H1N1 deadly flu might request for their compensation….,on and on ,never ending.

Covid-19 infection rate in the community

What is the infection rate of covid-19 in the community.

The WHO statistics showed that 94,796 tests were carried out in Singapore and 10,141 (10.7%) were found to be infected.

https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=2894

Evil or stupid?

My friend made this observation.

He said. The ministers know that the corona virus is not lethal. But they ordered and extended the circuit breaker to scare the people that the virus is spreading fast and they are doing something to stop it.

They know that the new cases will drop by end of May, when they complete the testing of the foreign workers.

They will then announce that their circuit breaker had worked and the gullible people will be grateful for their excellent stewardship. Then they will call the general election - as the crisis is over.

TKL said - But they would have damaged the livelihood of a few hundred thousand people. It will take a long term for the damage to be repaired.

If this is the case, that the ministers had done an evil thing. I hope that the people will not be fooled by this deception.

So, the ministers are either evil or stupid. Which one?

Worrying about the unknown

Many people are worried about the covid-19 virus. They worry about the mutation of the virus. They worry about how long the virus can spread with people that have or do not have symptoms. They worry about the reinfection of the people who have been cured.

I ask them to look beyond the unknowns and focus on what is known and staring us in the eye.

https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=2893

WOTC - Circuit breaker measures

Wisdom of the Crowd: 83% of the respondents said that the circuit breaker measures were necessary to stop the spread of the virus.

https://tklcloud.com/Crowd2/chart.aspx?ID=1951

WOTC - Relief measures

Wisdom of the Crowd: 89% of the respondents said that the three relief packages will be largely wasted and will not take care of the long term challenges facing the people.

https://tklcloud.com/Crowd2/chart.aspx?ID=1950

facebook.com/kinlian

I put up several posts every day in my Facebook page, which are not repeated in my Blog.

You can go to that page and Like it.

www.facebook.com/kinlian

Wisdom of the Crowd - New Issues

1. Was it wise to extend the circuit breaker measures?

2. Was the virus well contained?

Vote in
https://tklcloud.com/Crowd2/vote.aspx

Testing for the covid-19 virus

Somebody asked the questions - why does it take so long to test the foreign workers? Why can't we test the locals also? Why do we restrict the testing to only people with symptoms? Can we test everybody?

https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=2892

Difficult to read the MOH website

I had a lot of trouble to search the MOH website for statistics on the covid-19 cases.

I finally arrived at this webpage
https://www.moh.gov.sg/covid-19

It was a confusing page. It provided links to the following:
 

a) situation report
b) Interactive situation report

The first link lead to another page that contains the daily report in PDF. I am not able to download or view the PDF.

The second link took a long time to load and presents graphs that are hard to follow.

It would be more useful if MOH would just give the tables in Excel or PDF that can be easily displayed or downloaded.

They should just follow what is done in the WHO website.
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus

I cannot understand why MOH has to make life so difficult for the public.

https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=2891

Take initiative according to the situation

I watched the performance of Phantom of the Opera on YouTube.
There was a segment that is relevant to Singapore and I like to share the moral of the incident.
https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=2890

Elderly woman insist on eating at the hawker center

Someone shared a video about an elderly woman who insisted on eating at the table in the hawker center. The enforcement officer asked her to eat at home, but she refused. She shouted "You can fine me. I don't care".

Most people think that the woman was acting in an irresponsible manner. She refused to comply with the law and with the request of the enforcement officer.

I share a different perspective.
https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=2889