DORSCON Orange

Yesterday, Singapore increased it's DORSCON (Disease Outbreak Response System Condition) Level to Orange...and everyone freaked out.

Orange means "the disease is severe and spreads easily from person to person, but the disease has not spread widely in Singapore and is being contained." Singapore has had 33 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, with 3 of those cases not linked to other cases or travel in China.

People aren't to gather in large groups. Non-essential events and children's extra-curricular activities are to be cancelled. Offices and schools are asked to check temperatures at least twice a day and to implement and step up their Emergency Preparedness Plans to include things like telecommuting and splitting their workforce into separate independent groups. I wouldn't be surprised if Jonathan is told to work from home next week. We are all asked to monitor our temperatures daily and see a doctor immediately if we do have a temperature. I've got our thermometer in the living room to remember to do it. I check us before we go outside in the morning.

Just hours after the announcement the grocery stores were in chaos as people began hoarding food. Queues were long and we were seeing pictures of empty shelves. Some of the online ordering sites crashed from the volumes.

I did our online order a few days ago, and added the 5 kg bag of rice, the large package of toilet paper and some oversized cans of fruit to our regular order. No way of getting anti-bacterial wipes or gel or masks anywhere in Singapore now. Well we could have got 4 masks if we went and stood in line for the government issued ones today. 4 masks per household - which is basically so you can get to the doctor without infecting anyone else.

Our Helper went to the grocery store today for the usual stuff. She said the lines were long, but she seemed able to find everything on the grocery list. Singapore issued an official statement today reassuring the public that Singapore has an ample national stockpile of food and with that, plus our diverse food supply network (we import food from all over the world) there is zero cause for concern.

The swimming pools are quiet today. I took a book down to the pool by myself in the afternoon and had my pick of 25 lawn chairs. Technically, I probably had my pick of 43 lawn chairs if I count ones at the other pools.

There were 2 other ladies in lawn chairs at the clubhouse pools and one man swimming lengths. That's a lot quieter than a typical weekday; and this was a Saturday! Usually the pool is full of families on Saturdays. I consider myself very lucky if I snag a lawn chair when we go swimming on the weekend.  

The girls and I took a walk instead of playing on the playground this morning. We took a cable car ride, but we stayed on and didn't get off at Sentosa.

We had to pass temperature screening to get into the cable car building. I felt reassured by this, but it freaked other people out, who walked away from the screening queue instead.  The sidewalk walking there was very quiet also.

Last night the playground was as busy as any Friday night. The Moms were alternating between worrying and reassuring each other. The kids are all still going to school, but some parents had cancelled the school bus and were driving the kids back and forth themselves to avoid a few germs. I decided not to go to the Art and Science Museum like I was thinking of.

I might call it a movie night and keep the kids inside tonight instead of hitting up the playground as we usually would. They're playing at a friend's house right now.