Someone sent this to me. I agree. We cant keep using lockdowns to handle this situation. Poverty is on the rise.💙😌
-“ A CMCO on KL and Selangor is overkill. What happened to targeted lockdowns? We cannot be lurching from one lockdown to the next, especially for Klang Valley. Do mass testing with antigen RTK to quickly identify and isolate positive cases. (https://codeblue.galencentre.org/2020/10/12/klang-valley-lockdown-no-dine-ins-jogging-work-letter-needed-to-cross-kl-selangor-putrajaya/)
What is the justification for such a strict lockdown on the entire capital city and Selangor? Are we going to see police roadblocks throughout KL and Selangor like during MCO 1? The government must reverse this decision. It is a wholly disproportionate public health response.
With just 34 local Covid cases reported in KL within past 14 days as of yesterday, the govt shuts down the entire capital city? Putrajaya only has 13 cases. Selangor has 224 cases, but only two are red zones (Petaling - 53 cases, Klang - 82 cases).
A Klang Valley CMCO is completely irrational.
And news flash, economic sector can't continue if you prevent people from going out. And obviously we'll see Covid cases reported every day because we can never eradicate the virus until we get a vaccine. After lockdown is lifted, then Covid cases will go up again. Then what?
The MCO was supposed to buy us time to prepare the health care system for future outbreaks, NOT to eradicate the virus. What did we do for the past six months since MCO in March? Are you saying we didn't prepare enough?
WHO has warned against using lockdowns as a primary means of controlling the virus, stating it could have a dramatic impact on poverty. What exactly do you hope to achieve with a Klang Valley lockdown? Slow the virus transmission to prepare some more? Aren't we already prepared?
The government has repeatedly said, as recently as less than a week ago, that our health care system is prepared for Covid outbreaks. So what on earth is the justification for a Klang Valley CMCO that generally prohibits people from leaving home except for work/ buy necessities?
PM said May 1 that it’s impossible for any country to hit zero Covid cases. Ismail Sabri repeated this point on Oct 3. What I want to know is — what exactly is a tolerable number of daily Covid cases in a district for the govt? 20? 50? 100? Or nationwide — 200? 500? 1,000?
MOH claims that they advised a Klang Valley CMCO to prevent yellow zones from turning red, as various districts are recording new cases every day. Well, of course we'll see Covid infections daily; that's the nature of the disease. The old govt narrative (which it has since discarded) during the early days of the RMCO of less than 50 daily cases, or even ZERO cases a day, made absolutely no sense.
With increased testing, we’ll naturally pick up more cases. The more you test, the more you get. Important thing is to expand testing so that we detect and isolate infectious people quickly. So it doesn’t matter even if we record hundreds of cases, as long as we isolate quickly.
Now police are saying they'll mount roadblocks in the same way like the first MCO in March. So is this CMCO or MCO 1? Expect huge traffic jams in Klang Valley if the cops are gonna check each car for an employment letter to get to work. And if authorities are going to treat Klang Valley CMCO like MCO 1, expect to see the repeated hurdles to seeking medical treatment that cancer patients previously suffered, not to mention postponed appointments for regular medications from clinics for those with chronic conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure. (https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2020/10/12/cmco-police-to-mount-roadblocks-again-in-kl-selangor-putrajaya/1912050)
I'm sorry to say, but Malaysia's Covid public health policies since the Sabah election were an absolute shambles. No restriction of peninsula-Sabah travel during the election, either for politicians/ campaigners/ voters (the EC could have allowed outstation voters to vote in peninsular stations; they didn't). No enforcement of SOPs on any campaign rally during the election. No mandatory 14-day quarantine upon return from Sabah. No significant expansion of testing -- either RT-PCR or rapid antigen tests.
And before the election, no prosecution of lawmakers who clearly (and even admitted themselves) broke SOPs, including mandatory quarantine. I don't think enforcers even checked government premises to see if they follow the SOPs that they enforce on private citizens and businesses, like MySejahtera check-ins, provision of hand sanitizers, or wearing face masks. Visit government offices in Putrajaya and see how many actually comply with SOPs. Parliament doesn't mandate MySejahtera and hardly provides any hand sanitizer throughout the entire building.
The government also ignored repeated warnings from medical professionals and civil society about prison and detention centre outbreaks. Worse, enforcers even dragged people to police stations and made them wait in crowded and congested areas just to receive their saman. The Sabah surge came from cases first reported on Sept 1 in the Lahad Datu police lock-up and Tawau prison.
And now suddenly, wham, a two-week lockdown on the entire Klang Valley, even though the country's main Covid hospital, Sungai Buloh Hospital, is located in Selangor, not to mention the many other tertiary hospitals in the Klang Valley. Of all places, Klang Valley has the best public health care system. How can Klang Valley not be prepared for a Covid outbreak?
People may be allowed to go to work during the CMCO, but what about small businesses and roadside stalls? Only privileged white collar workers can afford to work from home. And only lawmakers and civil servants can go through any lockdown without worrying about next month's salary.
Boo Su-Lyn (no idea who that is)
