We now live in a paranoid period.
Try coughing in public, even when you cover your mouth and have a surgical mask on, and everyone would think that you’ve COVID-19.
Try talking with a China accent and everyone would think you’ve brought the virus in.
It’s normal to be fearful, but it’s not normal to be too fearful. Not only does it impair our daily lives, it’d cause anxiety to yourself and worse still, if you’re the kind who anyhowly share things you see online, then you’d cause anxiety to others, too.
Like this.
People Anyhowly Say SIM Got COVID-19 Case Just Coz Someone is Ill: It’s NOT TRUE
According to SIM, at 7pm yesterday, a canteen staff member was sick in SIM Kampong food court (one of the two big food courts in SIM) and taken to Ng Teng Fong hospital.
And all of a sudden, people went into panic mode simply because someone is sick, and SIM was cleaning up and disinfecting the area.
It’s confirmed that the man was simply feeling dizzy, and had no other respiratory symptoms. He has since been discharged from the hospital at 10.50pm yesterday night, and we all should know that the authorities won’t anyhowly let any suspect case linger in Singapore.
But during the four hours or so, the panic button must have been pressed.
Here’s SIM’s statement:
Lest you can’t read:
Earlier this evening a staff from the SIM Kampong Foodcourt had taken ill at 7pm and sent to Ng Teng Fong Hospital.
We have at 10:50pm received written confirmation from the hospital that the canteen staff had presented with dizziness but had no other respiratory symptoms. His blood tests were normal and he has been discharged with no further follow up needed.
As a precautionary measure, we had immediately undertaken disinfecting cleaning of the foodcourt and the common areas around it, and will keep up with the cleaning of all our common facilities to keep our campus safe.
We remind the SIM community to check the facts directly with SIM before posting unfounded news that can cause undue panic.
Here’s the last sentence again bolded for you:
We remind the SIM community to check the facts directly with SIM before posting unfounded news that can cause undue panic.
It’s human nature to be fearful and we can’t control that, but you can control what you say or share.
And that control can help in the battle against COVID-19, because…
Study Says Fake News Make Outbreak Worse
We know about that based on common sense, but now, a study has confirmed it.
A study by Britain’s East Anglia University (UEA) claims that stopping fake news could “help save lives”.
Reason being, misinformation can change people’s behaviour and make them “take greater risks”.
In fact, we can mitigate the impact of the outbreak just by reducing 10% of harmful advice that is circulated online.
So do yourself and society a favour by not anyhowly coming to conclusion just because you see someone is sick—and worse, not to share your over-imaginative conclusion with the world.
If you want real information, bookmark MOH’s website here or opt in to Gov.sg’s WhatsApp service.
