Living in Singapore as a US Expat While the Coronavirus Spreads
Upon landing in Singapore, the news of the coronavirus were muffled in the background. I had been more concerned with adjusting to my new life in Singapore and with my legs being eaten alive by mosquitos here. My friends kept warning me of contracting Dengue fever, a common virus spread by mosquitos. Great.
At that point, the news of the virus spreading in Wuhan had been contained and controlled, most likely by China’s government censorship and carefulness to not release the actual numbers of those infected. As I marveled in the Lunar New Year festivities here, I continued to monitor the news online, as well as checking social media. It was alarming to watch videos and tweets about people collapsing to the ground without warning and what seemed to be taking their last breathe. Then the news started to break, not just China but everywhere as the festivities began.
Each year, Chinese citizens travel during Lunar New Year, one of the largest migrations known.
According to MarketWatch, Zhou Xianwang, the Mayor of Wuhan, said that 5 million people had left the city before travel restrictions were imposed ahead of the Chinese New Year.
The coronavirus has spread to all parts of the world, from US, Hong Kong, Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, France, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore, South Korea, Macao and Nepal.
As of January 29, 2020, there are 5,578 confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide.
My father had brought up an interesting point, which was this new strain of flu was political warfare to disrupt and cause world chaos, another way for the U.S. to smear China’s image alone.
In comparison, while much of the world is focused on the coronavirus outbreak, influenza continues to take its toll in the United States, where an estimated 15 million people have been infected and 8,200 have died from the disease so far this flu season.
At first, I was flabbergasted by my father’s remark and went through a rigorous debate with him on how tone deaf he sounded, but then realized he may be right. With the political climate happening with Trump and Iran, as well as Hong Kong and China, were these all just hypes? Was this a global distraction away from issues that really mattered? I’m not downplaying the severity of the coronavirus, but also wonder why the numbers of death from influenza in the U.S. don’t terrify us, especially as these numbers are thousands higher. We know the flu; most of us have caught it before and have at least a brief understanding of what it is. The coronavirus is new — it’s because fear of the unknown escalates into hysterics, and speculation and rumors intensifies these things. Plus, it makes a good news story. These are all just personal opinions, and urge everyone to think about this in a wider lens.
So what’s happening in Singapore?
Currently, there are 7 people infected with the coronavirus in Singapore, all who have traveled from Wuhan. A few were visitors, staying at the luxurious Marina Bay Sands and Shangrila hotel. Their tracks were traced; anyone in their proximity were alerted, assessed and quarantined if needed. The Ministry of Health (MOH) is also contacting all recent travellers from Hubei province who are in Singapore. MOH estimates that about 2,000 travelers have arrived here in the last two weeks, of whom roughly 1,000 are on short-term visas. In my opinion, they’ve done a good job being transparent and quickly delivering info to the public as needed.
Above is an online GIS dashboard that allows you to track and visualize the virus in real time. It shows the areas of illness, suspected and confirmed patients, and death.
My current qualms:
- I worry about the elderly and young, and those who need the hospital for non-virus related reasons. Imagine being pregnant near labor and having to go to a hospital in China. Can they even get the healthcare that they need? Will they even be able to see a doctor? The hospitals in WuHan are at capacity and overwhelmed. I feel for those in Hubei Province, especially as the growing number of the sick are crushing their unprepared healthcare system. This video of a doctor having a mental breakdown shows the graveness of the situation; in the video, he is shown in hysterics on the phone saying they are understaffed and overworked, there are too many patients, and it is Chinese New Year — he wants to go home to see his own family.
- The fact that if this situation gets dire, I will not be able to return to the U.S. because of some travel ban or that on a flight back home, I get infected or quarantined. That would be the worst. There already have been some airlines banning flights to and from China, including United Airlines. Planes are cesspools of germs; especially since you’re in an aircraft for 14–15 hours, you’re in close proximity with someone who may have contracted the flu, but not have realized it. That’s the terrifying part.
What I am doing to keep myself safe:
- Consistently washing my hands. Everywhere I go, I’ll be sure to wash my hands all the time, all the way up to my elbows.
- I was trying to find a mask here in Singapore for the past three days, but they’re literally all sold out. 3/5 of people are all wearing face masks. Everyone on the streets is basically walking around with one. I previously went to a few Watsons and Cold Storage stores; none are available and orders are being backfilled. A few friends in the U.S. have offered to ship some out (bless their souls), but it may take a while and even on Amazon, prices are expensive. At the Watsons near the coffee shop I’m working at, there was ONE batch and it was a mad scramble for people to buy. I quickly grabbed two and some hand sanitizers. Orders were limited to 3 since some a few customers tried to buy 8 boxes.
3. Avoiding condensed areas and places. This is quite difficult since I live in the Orchard area, one of the most popular areas of luxury shopping in Singapore and one of the first areas for new visitors to come to.
4. Sitting in coffee shops to work. Not that I’m completely isolating myself from others, but I am staying in nice, air-conditioned areas to remote work and staying away from large crowds.
5. Strengthening my immune system. I brought vitamins along with me when I traveled to Singapore and will be sleeping earlier to get a good night’s rest. I’ve been eating leafy greens and fruits, and less of ramen.
As I continue to monitor the virus from here, I wonder if I may need to leave my remote trip earlier and just head home. At this point, it does not seem that any Singaporeans have contracted the virus, just those traveling from Hubei. Hoping this doesn’t escalate further and hope the efforts of the medical community can help aid the efforts of containing this virus.
Emily is a US expat currently living in Singapore to learn about the tech communities growing in Asia. She has worked 4+ years in dev relations, community management, and event marketing within the tech and travel industry. Her time at OmniSci, Google and Booking.com gave her cross-functional expertise. In her free time, she runs the volunteer community initiatives for TEDxSanFrancisco, as well as promote and blog on the importance of financial literacy and education.
