#the UK population is as usual utterly complacent in the face of this

[elephantbitterhead]

Just realized that I may not have mentioned this: in the UK, a five-year mortgage is about the longest mortgage term you can get. Most are more like three. They are JUST NOW beginning to consider offering longer terms, but the interest rates on those are dramatically higher. I have been extremely mad about this ever since I discovered it when we first started looking for a house. My attempts to get mortgage brokers to explain the difference between US & UK options have gone absolutely nowhere, which I can only assume means they don't know the answer. This is obviously a scam that benefits only banks & those who can squeeze fees out of you when you have to refinance repeatedly. Mind you, when I suggest that to them they hastily deny it but offer no alternative.

[itstoofullinthere]

2020: A year to remember

Global Lockdowns: Who would have expected to see the use of such a drastic measure in modern times? Not just in China but globally, once it became clear that healthcare systems around the world were unable to handle an infectious disease outbreak given the rate of infection and our current population densities. Perhaps emperors in the past were right, lockdowns seems be to the most effective social distancing measure

Overwhelmed Healthcare Systems: Populations have grew to extents where healthcare systems do not have excess capacity to meet a surge. COVID-19 made me realise how scary the prospect of an overwhelmed healthcare system is: People dying in their homes, along hospital corridors, and in hospital beds, from conditions that can otherwise be remedied if there was sufficient capacity. It is not death that scares me but the guilt of knowing that we could have otherwise saved all these people if we had better plans or systems in place. But we don’t. Because money talks

China: I’m still utterly amazed by how China was able to send in thousands of medical personnel and tonnes after tonnes of medical supplies and food into Hubei day after day to supplement their COVID-19 efforts. I wonder how much food they have in their national stockpiles and on their farms. The dedication of medical personnel and national unity demonstrated during that period of time was also inspiring. Medical personnel worked under dire conditions, be it the initial lack of PPE, long hours, overwhelming workload, or under multiple layers of PPE that made breathing difficult. Most wore adult diapers while on duty in bid to conserve PPE supply. Many females shaved their heads to minimise infection risk. Some passed away in the course of duty, from the virus and from being overworked. Individuals and communities rallied together when their leaders and systems failed them. To raise money, to buy medical supplies, and to contribute whatever they could offer. Car owners doubled up as ambulances and drivers for medical personnel shunned by private hire operators. Others cooked and delivered food in raincoats for famished medical personnel. Netizens and celebrities shared information of those who require urgent medical assistance and access to hospital beds and the tech sector stepped in to create dedicated websites to expedite this process and to safeguard help seekers’ privacy. Of course, bad apples are aplenty and discrimination against Wuhan citizens and medical personnel still exists. We see some going down. May every last worm get rooted out. But their existence doesn’t negate the good. The amount and intensity of ground-up efforts occurred at a scale beyond my imagination. May this assist them in rebuilding their city and nation. This affirmed my desire to visit China, Wuhan in particular, after this blows over. I want to see for myself the city that did not just survived but that thrived despite everything against it

Lackluster Responses of the Western World: Their complacency costed the unnecessary loss of thousands of lives. This is especially so in developed countries such as Italy, US, Germany, UK, and France. World class medical services are nothing against infectious disease outbreaks if you do not prepare for them. Things won’t be so dire if their leaders made plans and ramped up PPE production while China’s outbreak was at its peak. Singapore’s plans aren’t perfect but at least we tried. Our efforts did work to a certain extent and we are currently a living example of how shit hits the fan in overlooked areas (i..e, lack of mandatory mask wearing, foreign worker dormitories). The world is more connected than ever and it is unrealistic to think that any country can walk away unscathed

Mother Nature: Perhaps this is your way of reminding earthlings to take better care of you. It never fails to amaze me how the laws of science acts like karma, albeit an extremely delayed one so we humans never truly learn. Once sufficient population density is attained, alongside living with animals, the likelihood of animal-to-human virus transmission increases; regardless of whether we consume traditional or exotic animals. Diseases, including infectious outbreaks, are nature’s way of controlling population density. Their impact in modern times are cushioned by medical and technological advancements. However, would there come a tipping point where our drugs and shiny equipment can no longer save us? Yes, when healthcare systems get overwhelmed. So we are all staying in and letting animals take over parts of our towns, which were built on their original homelands

Anticipated Prolonged Fight Against COVID-19: We expected this to blow over within months. But, the experts were right. Shit ain’t gonna end anytime soon. We will emerge victorious, as always. However, may we do so with minimal causalities and more united than ever. Because we truly need unity to rebuild the world

Closer to home, Singapore:

Our Ugly Side: Negativity usually uncovers the ugly side in individuals and societies. Singapore, in face of COVID-19, is no exception. No one, including me, took social distancing strictly when numbers were low. This improved as the situation escalated and as stricter rules kicked in place. Nevertheless, there’s still a segment who blatantly flout social distancing rules and even assault enforcement officers. I’m glad there’s established systems and manpower in place to keep these individuals in check. However, over-reliance on our leaders is not ideal. Humans are fallible and so are our leaders. I have never expected them to make perfect decisions and systems without loopholes. I only sincerely hope that they have the nation’s interest above their own and their party’s. Our over-reliance on them means that no one looks out for loopholes in their plans. So shit it the fan when we realised our folly of not making masks mandatory despite the existence of asymptomatic cases and of doing nothing despite knowing that our foreign workers were packed like sardines in dormitories. Perhaps we didn’t have sufficient resuable masks for distribution until it was too late. Thankfully, local transmission amongst non-dormitory cases are stable. However, couldn’t we have proactively done something regarding the dormitories before shit hit the fan? The first confirmed cluster amongst foreign workers occurred about a week before the explosion of cases. Even prior to the first cluster, anyone with some common sense would have known that shit would shit the fan if a cluster started within the dormitories. Our initial unwillingness to provide better care for our foreigners might end up costing us more while running the risk of overwhelming our healthcare system. Krama’s a bitch

Closure of Religious Places: Something that has never been seen in Singapore’s history. It really hit home when I realised that Muslims from different households can no longer break fast together. It must be extra hard for them to cope with the social distancing when they are already adjusting to the fasting regime

Having 3 Budgets Within Months: I’m glad to know that we have sufficient reserves to tide us through. However, the budgets also go reflect how dire the economy would be in the aftermath of this virus

Ground-Up Efforts: I am glad to report the increase in ground-up efforts as the COVID-19 situation escalates. I guess we really need a disaster to bring our nation together. May we not only survive but thrive and emerge more united than ever

All in all, it’s ironic how COVID-19 put the world on a standstill precisely because we refused to even slow down for it in the first place. So we are now forced to stay in to reflect on how wrong we have been and how we would need to re-evaluate our priorities in preparation for its future extended family.