Assoc Professor Terence Kee's message on Covid-19 (Forwarded):

Assoc Professor Terence Kee's message on Covid-19 (Forwarded):

Assoc Prof Terence Kee is a senior consultant renal physician and an active member of the renal transplant team in SGH. 

1009 cases ...

This is not Freedom Month.

You may not know but our hospitals are feeling the strain. More general hospital beds are being converted to isolation wards to care for COVID infected patients, more staff are being diverted to care for COVID infected patients and clinical care for other conditions are being postponed. Patients and staff are regularly swabbed for COVID-19 and we are picking up more asymptomatic and symptomatic cases.

I said it before and I say it again. Stay at home for now. It is really not safe to dine out or go exercise in crowded parks where you are mask down or eat or drink together with your colleague at work.

Vaccination is not a Captain America's shield. You can still get infected. You may be less ill than a non-vaccinated person but you may pass the infection to someone who will suffer more like the old, the chronically ill and the young.

For the cyclists. Stop cycling in big groups and then having breakfasts together when you are masked down. Will you die if you just ride alone or just dont ride at all for the next few weeks ?

For the joggers. Find other times to jog when the parks and pavement is less crowded. The problem is not the exercise but what happens when you stop jogging. Too many a time I have seen joggers mask down while walking or resting. Worst till, they are masked down talking to other joggers, potentially exposing each other. Also if you have to jog, for God's sake, dont jog on the road because you dont want to use the pavement as a reason to avoid other joggers. You are not a bicycle.  Road users cant see you and an accident is bound to happen.

I see people shop and eat like there is no tomorrow but do you know there are consequences ? Even if the majority of infected vaccinated patients are stable, the more people that get infected means the more vulnerable people like the elderly and young are going to get infected. And they may suffer serious consequences as they may not have gotten their shots yet.

We know we have to be prepared to live in an endemic COVID world. But this is not Freedom Day. We need to slow down the rise in cases and allow our hospitals to get breathing space before it is too late.

The Government is calling on everyone to scale back non-essential social activities during this period. Finance Minister Lawrence Wong on Sept 6 said this is part of efforts to help to slow down coronavirus spread without having to go back to a heightened alert phase or a circuit breaker.

So just because you dont see COVID, you can go about life as usual. At the rate the cases are rising, COVID may be at your doorsteps sooner than later.

Do the right thing. Stay at home. Wear your mask properly.  Educate others before it is too late.

Dr Terence Kee

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