Come tomorrow, we will have another phase of the MCO – the Recovery MCO, or as our PM called it the RMCO. This is to last till 31 Aug. And then we are supposed to see how well we comply with all the SOP before deciding what to do next.
The impression is that it will be over soon.
However, I think that it will take about another 2 years before we see the end of the tunnel.
What is my basis?
Think about it. Over the past 3 months, we have the MCO, the EMCO, then the CMCO, and now the RMCO. So over the 3 months period, we have used up1 alphabet every month ie “E”, “C” and “R”
There are still 23 alphabets left so at 1 alphabet a month, we still have about 2 years to go.
Actually, I missed one out. We also have SEMCO for a semi-enhanced MCO that was used in Pudu last month.
You think I am being funny. HaHa. Actually, I found out about this govt propensity to use alphabets and numbers whenever COVID is involved
- Our PM mentioned the 6 R steps in his speech. When I saw him speaking I was amused cos the 6 R refer to English words yet he was speaking in Bahasa. I think this has to do with the fascination of numbers and alphabet
- MOH has talked about avoiding the 3 C – Crowded place, Confined spaces and Close conversation. The Bahasa version is 3 S – Sesak, Sempit (it is elakan kawasan yang sesak, sempit), Sembang dekat
- There is also the MOH video I saw on Youtube that talks about “amalkan 3 W” – Wash, Wear (mask), and Warn. I kid you not!
You still don’t believe me about the link between COVID 19 and the alphabet?. Let me give you other examples of how alphabets have been linked to COVID 19.
- 5 G – Remember the conspiracy theory about the virus being caused by 3G mobile phone technology
- 3 M – OK I am being funny. But 3 M actually make face-mask
- 3 D – this is the 3D printer being used to make face-mask during the shortage
- Remember the 3 strains of COVID virus A, B and C?
If you don't believe what I have said above, just wait till next month. I am sure that the govt will come out with another tagline involving a number and an alphabet!
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If I was paranoid, I would think that the govt is spying on me cos I saw this news yesterday about the govt giving RM 50 to those who downloaded the MySejahera app. They had problems as it led to the server crashing after receiving 700,000 applications in one minute.
Why do I have the conspiracy theory about being spied on?
Long before I started this COVID blog, I was commenting on COVID with my old school friends thru the Yahoo group. I started in Mac and some time in 5 April, I made the tongue-in-cheek comment that the govt can easily get people to download any contact tracing app by giving away money for downloading.
So now this is being done. OK, I was more generous than the govt as I was thinking of RM 1,000.
I have posted below what I wrote on 5th April for your reading as I think it is still relevant.
BTW as you read it, remember that I proposed the phased ending on 5th April and this has also come to pass.
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5th April 2020
We had 150 deaths yesterday. The updated S curve equation remains unchanged and projects 40 cases per day come 10th April. FYI, the 40 cases are the point where a district is classified as a red zone.
MOH said that they will make a decision on the MCO on 10th April by looking at the data. Dr. Fauci of the USA said that he will know that the USA has passed the peak when they have 14 days of declining cases. Malaysia doesn't have enough time left to use this criterion. As it is unlikely that we will have zero cases come 10th April, I do hope that MOH has some better model than merely curve projection.
Yesterday Singapore announced its lockdown plan after being held up for weeks as a good example of a place where containment (testing, contract tracing, isolation) can work without resorting to shutting down the economy. The main reason for the change of mind is that they have run out of resources to manage the containment strategy. If an efficient nation like Singapore has problems with such a containment strategy, I have very little confidence that we can do an effective containment strategy for Malaysia.
Dr. Fauci made a very interesting comment when asked about what should the USA do after they have flattened the curve and brought the spread under control. He said that they should see a "re-set" implying that the virus is not going to disappear and all the social distancing and other containment measures should continue after the lock down stage.
Given the situation of Singapore and Dr Fauci comment, I think we have to live with a scenario where we have periods of containment (i.e. no lock down to enable the economy to function) with periodic bouts of MCO. The MCO goal is no longer just for flattening the curve to meet the hospitalization capacity, but also to meet the containment capacity.
No country can live with a shutdown for a long period of time. So I don't think we should extend the MCO come mid-April. One strategy for the govt is to do a phased ending of the MCO. I think this is possible cos looking at the data, a significant number of infections have come from only a few red zones. Today we have 17 districts classified as red zones. Together these red zones accounted for 2/3 of the cum no of cases in the country. The growth rates of COVID 19 for these 17 districts from 21st Mac to 3rd April is about doubled that for the rest of the non-red zone regions.
Regions Compounded daily growth rate
All Red zone 10.0 %
Country excl red zone 5.7 %
In reality, the critical virus areas are not whole districts. If I interpret the news correctly, the enhanced MCO is applied to specific residential areas within these red zoned districts. I think that MOH seems to have done a good job of identifying the red zones and getting the people there tested. It may be a bit beyond them to have to handle the testing, contact tracing, and isolation for the whole country. So a phased ending of the MCO would not tax both our medical and containment resources.
The red zone data above offers a rationale for a phased ending of the MCO that could operate as follows:
a) Maintain the MCO for the red zones and only end the MCO for them when the daily case goes to zero. Then end the MCO for the rest of the country
b) Open up interstate traveling state by state so that the police/army could do temperature checks for all vehicles crossing state lines.
c) school and education centres opening should lag the end of the MCO by two weeks.
It goes without saying any ending of the MCO must be dependent on having a stronger containment capability.
i) testing: We are still testing at a pathetic rate of about 2,000 per day in the first week of April c/w to the target of 16,500. We should have more privatized testing. Germany had its first COVID 19 at the end of Jan. By then Malaysia already had 8 cases. Today Germany has done some 440,000 tests compared to our 50,000.
ii) social distancing
- make it mandatory to wear facemask when not at home. We have to work on the basis that everyone is a carrier and the face mask is to prevent us from infecting others
- require all premises to have temperature checks and social distancing measures. There is hope for the country cos I have been going out to buy takeaways from the stall in the coffee shops. The stall asks the customers to wait outside the shop after taking the order and when the food is ready, they place the food on a table outside for collection. I am amazed.
iii) contact tracing: We should rope in the private detective agencies and security companies to help. Ideally, we should have the contact tracing app for everyone. I am sure that if the govt gives a RM 1000 gift for everyone who has this app, we will have full compliance.
- Also require all public gathering (if not banned) to compile contacts of all participants.
iv) isolation: I am not sure whether the 19,000 beds set up for the mandatory quarantine is sufficient as this equates to an admission rate of about 1,400 per day. If we have the contact tracing app with stiff penalties, we can have the home quarantine as an alternative
So if any of you can get thru to MOH, float the idea of a phased ending.
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PS: This blog is for me to better understand COVID 19 as this will impact my investments. If you are also into equities, follow me at i4value.asia.
Disclaimer: I am not an epidemiologist, healthcare worker, pharmacist, or staff in the Ministry of Health, but rather is someone with a strong interest in numerical analysis. The content is an attempt to understand what is happening in the battle against COVID 19 from a data-based perspective. The opinions expressed here are based on information extracted from readily available public sources but I do not warrant its completeness or accuracy and should not be relied on as such.