SOUNDING BOARD is an outlet for opinions on good and crazy things going on at home (wherever I may be). All are welcome. You are not expected to bring anything except your common sense & sense of humor.
'If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100, get one million miles to the gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside.'
-Robert X. Cringely (from geek wisdom)
SOUNDING BOARD
Tuesday, April 08, 2003
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SARS and politics
The knee-jerk reaction from Hongkong and China to maintain a business-as-usual climate may have been smart from a self-interested and parochial (and very narrow-minded) point of view, but it definitely wasn't that smart from a global perspective.
The seemingly automatic response to turn a blind eye on the crisis and project a posture that everything is under control has proven to be more deadly in more ways than one. The most obvious was the tremendous effect on public health. Then, almost instantaneously, tourism is affected pulling down the rest of the economy.
In contrast to Hongkong and China (see previous issue), Singapore implemented a somewhat stronger approach in infection control. The "ring-fence approach", wherein the government isolates suspected victims and painstakingly retraces their steps in the days before they fell ill, seems to have worked very well. Of course, we have to undertand the political context of Singapore (not to mention its population size). In more ways than one, Singapore is always an exception to the rule. This was again proven true in the case of the way the Singapore government was able to handle infection control very well. Until today. Last night, Health Minister Lim Hng Kiang announced the bad news - seven new cases of SARS (highest daily increase in two weeks) and additional two reported deaths. Even the "ring-fence approach" is proving to be very difficult for a very mobile population.
The Government of the Philippines says the country (of 75 billion people) is SARS-free until now. I hope it remains that way, although I am not very optimistic.
I do not want to linger on "what could have beens". Clearly, a faster response could have paved the way for a quicker availability of the vaccine. Let's just hope that Hongkong, China, and the rest of the world will be able to produce the vaccine. And let's hope the virus doesn't mutate into something nastier.
posted by Allan at 10:52 AM (GMT+8)
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