A Wise Old Man once said:

“Shit happens, but life must go on.”

And though the Wise Old Man isn’t exactly the prime exemplification of his own quote, his words ring true;

Shit will always happen in life, but you just gotta carry on.

And a prime testament to that shitty-but-philosophical notion?

Operations in Northpoint City, which are set to continue even after it was declared as a cluster area.

Business As Usual in Northpoint City After It was Declared a Cluster

Even though Northpoint City had the unlucky designation of being the first major mall here to be tagged as a Covid-19 cluster, it seems that operations, nonetheless, are still going on as per usual.

According to Straits Times, most of the eateries, retail shops marketing food items as well as the supermarket in the Yishun-located mall remained open; shoppers and staff workers alike are also reportedly not too perturbed by the news and expressed confidence in the adopted safety measures.

No closing-down orders were issued to the supermarket as well, and staff at eateries and food shops in the mall also said that they had not been notified of any forthcoming mall closure.

A spokesman for the mall has since come out with a statement.

“Northpoint City will continue to operate with safe distancing measures in place,” he said. “The health and safety of our staff, tenants and shoppers remain our utmost priority. We will continue to work closely with the authorities to ensure effective implementation of the latest measures.”

In view of the latest developments, steps have been taken to curb the possibility of future cases. UV-disinfecting mobile robots are amongst the latest additions as “disinfecting and thorough cleaning of the mall” continues.

An app by GovTech, called SafeEntry, will also be implemented to facilitate contact tracing measures.

At the moment, a thermal scanner is being utilised to screen people entering from Northpoint City’s south wing at entrance 3. Kind of like those at airports.

In any case, there’s nothing for people to worry because…

Cases in Northpoint City

On 17 April 2020, it was announced that 3 cleaners in the mall were down with COVID-19.

They previously worked in the South wing of the mall.

And just yesterday (25 April 2020), MOH confirmed the existence of a cluster in the mall:

7 people to be exact.

They are all previously confirmed cases.

Which means the place is as clean as a recruit’s bunk now.

Not The First Mall To Have Been Identified As A Cluster

Northpoint City might be the first major mall to have been identified as a cluster, but it’s certainly not the first mall to be designated as such.

If you remember,  Mustafa Centre in Little India and SingPost Centre in Paya Lebar were previously identified as clusters, with the former having been closed for two weeks. After Mustafa Centre was discovered on 2 April to have 11 cases (as well as purported links to hundreds others), it was swiftly cleaned and closed down to prevent further spread.

SingPost, on the other hand, did not cease its mall operations as its cases were reportedly confined to its packet-processing facility.

So if you’re heading to Northpoint City later tonight?

Well, don’t, not because it’s not safe to lah but because you’re supposed to stay home, remember?