Landscape workers work under risky conditions

 Someone sent this feedback to the minister for manpower and copied to me.

Madam

Allow me to kindly report to you of a case of flouting pf MOM safety rule by foreign landscape workers while working in a condo complex here.

To add to this they all carried out deceptive techniques to trick all that they had complied to the safety ŕules.

I witnessed their modus operandi as I was an inside, when I worked as a gardener at X during October and November 2020.

Every Friday, a team of five workers would come to this condo to garden and of their task is to go to the round and flat roof of the barbecue house.

Beautiful plants are planted on it and the team service the plants to get them to be even more beautiful.

The foreign workers don't don the safety suit or harness, climbed the ladder to get to the roof and moved around freely to carry out their work.

If any of them slip and fall off the edge of the roof he will fall on the hard cement floor below.

It is certain that he will be injured and might even die.

This need not happen if he hook at the end of the 10 feet rope is attached to a strongly entrenched pole.

There is no such pole on the roof and so the entire team of four were working under dangerous conditions.

The person who oversee the operation is Y he is the supervisor of the stationed gardeners of this complex.

He did not go up to the roof because he fears death.

The condo manager should have provided the necessary safety measures but it did not and so it is also at fault.

While the foreign workers should refuse to work under such conditions but they persisted because their need for money is great and it is to be used to feed their loved ones.

I care because of my conscience. I do want any local and foreign gardener to die.

Thank you.

Wisdom of the Crowd - New Issues

 

1. Did Singapore adopt a good strategy to contain the covid pandemic?

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

Review of circuit breaker in Singapore

Singapore started the circuit breaker on 7 April 2020. At that time, it was intended to last for four weeks until May 4.

The whole world was worried about the seriousness of the virus. Wuhan in China implemented the lockdown on 23 January. During the following nine weeks, we saw a large number of hospital cases, intensive cases and deaths. The hospitals were overwhelmed. Two emergency hospitals had to be built within 10 days.

We also saw the breakdown of hospital system in Italy when the number of cases overwhelmed the capacity.

When the government discovered that there were large number of infections among the foreign worker dormitories in Singapore, there was alarm. We need to control the spread. There were already many cases treated in hospital. The hospital facilities could be overwhelmed.

The government introduced restrictions under the circuit breaker. All non-essential workplaces and retail outlets had to stop operation during the period of the circuit breaker.

https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=3974

WOTC - World Economic Forum

 Wisdom of the Crowd: 66% of the respondents said that it is safe to holed the World Economic Forum in May 2021 as the risk is low.

https://tklcloud.com/Crowd2/home.aspx

I invested in these hot stocks

 I have invested in the following hot stocks:

HIMS - bought 1000 stock at $22.8. 
AQB - bought 5000 stock at $9.50
SENS - bought 10,000 stock at $2.50
GEVO - bought and sold the stocks on several rounds
BNGO - bought and sold the stocks on several rounds. 
NNDM - bought and sold the stocks on several rounds.

https://fisca.sg/ArticleDisplay.aspx?ID=845

Difficult to understand the coverages under these insurance policies

 A policyholder has two insurance policies. She asked me to look at the coverages of these policies and help her to decide which policy to keep and which to give up. She needs to reduce her budget.

I studied the two policies and asked her to check with the insurance companies on the following:

AXA policy

You are covered for $150,000 in death benefit, terminal illness and permanent total disability and pay a premium of $150 a year.

You also have supplementary living accelerator benefit for $150,000 without the need to pay any premium.

It covers "a selected proportion of the sum assured" but does not specify the amount.

You need to ask AXA to explain what is being covered under the SLAB and what is payable in the event of a claim.

Otherwise, the premium of $150 a year sounds quite reasonable.

Tokyo Marine policy

You have to pay a premium of $519 a year for a sum assured of $100,000 and a minimum benefit of $250,000.

I do not know what is being covered.

You have to ask TM to explain the coverage to you.

The premium of $519 a year seems to be very high.

I find the two policy documents to be "horrible". I cannot understand what is being covered. It is not clear.

Maybe, you should send the documents to MAS and ask MAS to get the insurance companies to write policy coverages that are clear to the lay person.

I cannot understand why consumers accept policy wordings that are written in a very confusing manner and why MAS allows insurance companies to issue this type of policy wordings.

https://fisca.sg/ArticleDisplay.aspx?ID=844

WOTC - Special centers for covid testing

 Wisdom of the Crowd: 93% of the respondents said that the government should set up special clinics to do covid testing.

https://tklcloud.com/Crowd2/chart3.aspx?id=2197

Wisdom of the Crowd - New Issues

 

1. Should incoming visitors be isolated for 14 days to prevent spread of covid infection?
2. Do you agree with the current measures to stop the spread of the covid infection?

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

Is SHN and isolation really necessary and useful?

 I read a report that a 35-year-old visitor was tested positive for Covid-19, two weeks after completing her stay-home notice (SHN).

My concern is on the cost of the Stay Home Notice to the traveler. The restriction meant that the traveler is not allowed to engage in any activity for 14 days. What is the purpose when it does not help to prevent the spread of the virus?

It is even more costly to require a traveler has to stay in isolation in a hotel for 14 days. 

Rather than keep the traveller under SHN or isolation, I refer that they be tested for covid on entry and if found negative, they do not need to be kept under SHN or isolation. Instead, they can be asked to monitor their temperature every day for 14 or 21 days. If they have a temperature, they should go for another covid test.

We should not impose a high cost for the SHN or isolation, when the actual benefit is questionable.

There should be a balance between the actual risk and the cost of the SHN and isolation measures.

If we find, from actual experience, that incoming visitors without symptoms are spreading the virus seriously, we can return to the SHN/ isolation measures. In the meantime, there is no need to incur such a heavy cost when the actual benefit is questionable.

http://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=3966

WOTC - Dealing with the covid pandemic

 Wisdom of the Crowd: 71% of the respondents have a negative view of the performance of the ministers in charge of dealing with the covid pandemic.

https://tklcloud.com/Crowd2/chart3.aspx?id=2196

WOTC - President Biden's first few days after inauguration

 Wisdom of the Crowd: 90% of the respondents are impressed with the steps taken by President Biden during the first few days of taking office.

https://tklcloud.com/Crowd2/chart3.aspx?id=2195

WOTC - Will Donald Trump maintain his popularity?

 Wisdom of the Crowd: 86% of respondents said that Donald Trump will soon be forgotten or reduce his popularity with Republican voters.

https://tklcloud.com/Crowd2/chart3.aspx?id=2194

Wisdom of the Crowd - New Issues

 

1. Do you accept the minister's explanation about the use of Trace Together data?

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

WOTC - Will President Trump pardon himself?

 Wisdom of the Crowd: 57% of the respondents said that President Trump will not pardon himself.

https://tklcloud.com/Crowd2/chart3.aspx?id=2193

My investment in Alibaba stock

 Here is a review of my investment in Alibaba stock (9988.HK and BABA).

https://fisca.sg/ArticleDisplay.aspx?ID=842

Wisdom of the Crowd

 Votes on these issues and win a prize.

https://tklcloud.com/Crowd2/active_issue.aspx

WOTC - Pardons by President Trump

 Wisdom of the Crowd: 78% of the respondents expect President Trump to issue many pardons before leaving the office of the president.

https://tklcloud.com/Crowd2/chart3.aspx?id=2192

Investment in growth stocks

 I have $252,000 USD invested in 5 growth stocks. I now see a small loss of $3,250 in these stocks.

The BNGO, GEVO and SENS stocks now show a gain.

The EDIT and CSPR stocks show a loss. However, I expect these stocks to recover soon.

https://fisca.sg/ArticleDisplay.aspx?ID=841

Wisdom of the Crowd - New Issues

1. Should the government set up covid testing centers?

2. Should we use self service kiosks for safe entry and temperature taking?

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

 

Quora: Efficacy of Sinovac vaccine

 My crystal ball CB said - Boss, this is very complicated!

Quora: The Chinese COVID 19 vaccine from sinovac is reported to only be 50% effective vs 95% for domestic produced. Does this reflect quality control issues with regards to Chinese vaccines or is there another reason for the lower efficacy of this vaccine?

Ridzwan Abdul Rahman replied

I think this CNN report shows the evil intentions of Western press. CNN should have shown the full results, as follows:

Sinovac's COVID-19 vaccine is 100 percent effective in preventing severe and moderate infections, 77.96 percent effective in preventing mild cases, and has an overall efficacy of 50.4 percent in Brazil's final-stage trials.

Why did CNN leave out the details? Bear in mind that almost all the trial participants in Brazil were high-risk medical workers, and the 77.96 efficacy for mild-case protection means the vaccine will reduce the amount of people needing hospitalization by 78 percent (compared to those who are not vaccinated), and none of them would have severe or moderate infections.

It should also be noted that Pfizer’s vaccine is not 100% effective against severe infections. The following statement was made in a report of Pfizer’s vaccine:

Of the 10 cases of severe Covid-19, nine were in the placebo group, an important finding which suggests the vaccine prevents not only mild cases, but the type of serious disease that leads patients to die or be hospitalized. ( Pfizer and BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine is 95% effective, full results show )

If 9 out of 10 were in the placebo group, it means that one severe case was from the group that was given the vaccine. This means that the Pfizer vaccine is not 100% effective against severe cases, while the Sinovac vaccine is 100% effective against severe cases.

Furthermore, last month Turkish researchers said the Sinovac vaccine was 91.25% effective. This test was not done on high risk medical workers, unlike the one in Brazil.

The 50.4% efficacy rate means a 50.4% reduction in number of infections compared to those who do not take the vaccine, including very mild cases that do not require any treatment.