Getting past COVID-19 together
After 6 weeks of WFH, here’s my take on COVID-19:
An introduction about myself, to add a profile if you will to the average Singaporean. I turn 30 at this month and the past 4 months of family events, working from home, military recalls and lastly the ongoing COVID-19 situation have been a rough journey for me. That said, living life in a pressure cooker and an unforgiving environment is nothing new considering I’ve lived in Singapore my entire life. In fact, Singaporeans are one of the fastest walkers in corporate terms — the people in the Central Business District tend to walk hurriedly before, during and after office hours. I consider myself fortunate enough to be working in a data-oriented role and have an average paycheck by Singapore’s standards.
What is COVID-19?
When the first wave or instance of the novel virus descended on our lands, few ever thought that it would eventually result in the WHO announcing it’s a pandemic. No doubt lives have been lost, the silver lining amidst the dark clouds are that it brought humanity together. One could argue while it has forced most people into physical isolation, it has united human race together. The Yellow Vest protests in France, to the demonstrations in Hong Kong, the trade war between US and China etc. and the list goes on. These events which were previously sparked by misunderstanding and disagreements have suddenly died down. The catch here is, maybe the media has stopped publishing articles and providing coverage on these events or that the people are genuinely afraid that they may lose their lives upon contracting COVID-19.
Following documentaries and videos on acute respiratory syndromes, the virus supposedly originates from improper meat handling techniques behaves by attacking the person’s respiratory system (I’m no medical student, this is what I understand so far). Some of the symptoms are the loss of taste and smell, fever, cough, flu, headache, body-aches, muscle aches and lastly shortness of breath etc. These symptoms tend to be like the common cold and influenza. The last time so many people died was due to the Spanish Flu in 1918 where the death toll was anything more than 17million (wiki suggests 17–50mln). Clearly influenza, flu or the common cold can be deadly if left untreated and unattended to because of the amount of pressure it puts on your organs.
Situation in Singapore
The first instance in Singapore was sometime in late January, while I was still going to work per normal hours. Then people were already aware of what symptoms to look out for and there was slightly heightened awareness of proper hygiene. I began wearing a mask to work on days where I have morning sinus and sometimes when I have a slight cough from rock climbing or exercising the previous day. Unfortunately, given our densely populated city, the number of cases increased consistently. I thought then it was time the government acted, this is because it was close to them announcing the fiscal budget for 2020 where they would speak about the plans they made for the year and surely COVID-19 is will inevitably be one of their concerns given the government saw how China responded with the lock-down in Wuhan.
In conjunction with the Singapore budget and the supplementary budget, the government rolled out new measures and policies to ensure they keep their people and Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) solvent. A large amount was withdrawn from the reserves to help support SMEs by subsidizing up to a certain amount of their employee’s salary. It may not be apparent, but as a business owner, you’re not just looking out for yourself. But you’re looking out for the families of those you employ as well. The provision of wage support, business loans and tax deferments provided just what the SMEs needed.
Some time in middle of March 2020, the number of infected/potential cases in Singapore did not seem to slow down and that was when the government begin introducing the policy where citizens and people should keep a physical distance and it makes sense.
Going out and taking a train is akin to the Prisoners’ Dilemma. We don’t know if that person standing next to us is infected, nor do we know if we’re infected as well:
Would we want to go to the local clinic when we have the slightest symptom of the virus?
Irrationally? No.
Logically? Yes.Hence, the Optimal outcome or the Nash’s equilibrium is for both individuals is to wear a mask. To restrict and contain any bacteria and/or germs that may spread to the other party.
On April 7th, the Singapore government rolled a new policy where non-essential businesses are to cease operations for a month, until 4th May. This policy hopes to address the rising case of virus transmission between humans within the densely populated city. Businesses and livelihoods will surely be affected. Living in this densely populated city meant that our daily 3 meals were never a problem, until recently. My family and I hardly cook at home. We order and eat take-outs. We could go to the nearby hawker centre, coffeeshop or restaurant to have a quick meal without having to worry about the closing hours (something I’m really grateful for). With the new policy, these hawker centres, coffeeshops, and restaurants only provide take-outs. Thanks to technology, we’ve our food delivery guys working hard at it. My only concern is that I sincerely hope the food delivery companies pay these guys more! They’re the heroes who deliver what is considered the mantra of most Singaporeans to us, FOOD!
What it means to be working from home
It’s been 6 weeks (Been working from home since mid-February) since I last set foot in office and I’m in a pretty good position to comment on “Working From Home”.
1. Discipline is a must.
2. We can get REALLY SILO-ED. I spent 4 hours just talking to my colleague on TEAMs because we were not used to WFH.
3. It becomes all too convenient when our office becomes the place where we sleep in. Changes the whole meaning of your personal space when you have video conferences etc.
4. If you can’t cook like me, either order food delivery, get take-outs, or get a catering service. My dad and I opt for the catering service. It can get boring when the food menu gets repetitive and most foods aren’t to our liking.
5. Alluding to my first point, Netflix, Nintendo switch and the list goes on. Lunch will certainly be very very different from your regular office salad.
6. Has Productivity dipped? No, it hasn’t really dipped in my opinion. Some of my colleagues say kids can really dampen and impede your productivity, well I can’t really relate to it as I’m not at that phase in life.
7. Working hours lengthened or shortened? To be fair I feel my working hours are now shorter, but I accomplish more in the shorter timeframe after subtracting the time taken to commute, and time spent on the longer lunches. Working from the comfort of my nest/burrow/stable has actually made me productive if you think about the productivity-to timespent-at-work ratio.
To Conclude
I hope this brief, short and informal article shed some light to how COVID-19 has changed my life as a working adult living in Singapore. I’d love to hear what activities or measures you’ve taken and experienced in your fight to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
About:
Hi, I’m Alan. I’m from Singapore. I generally have a curiosity for all things. I enjoy reading, writing, coding and watching comedy movies. I’ve been an academic researcher, a sell-side economics researcher and now doing work in Geospatial data analytics.
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