EDITORYAL-CARTOONS: Agwat-agwat para virus ay matodas!
THE EDITOR
Compassion is good business
Already, the threat of the novel coronavirus has upended our way of life, from the way we maintain distance from our loved ones and friends, the way we earn our living, even the way we ponder our mortality.Businesses—some industries more than others—have seen their revenues plummet because of the diminished economic activity. Things certainly do not look good for their first quarter figures, and likely for the rest of the year. Already forecasts for the economy have been slashed; stocks have bled in the past few weeks
READ MORE: https://manilastandard.net/opinion/editorial/320125/compassion-is-good-business.html
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What they’ve done right
Three Asian states — Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan — are being hailed for the actions and policies they have undertaken that appear to have successfully minimized the spread of COVID-19 in their respective territories.
Their experience with the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) epidemic in 2002 has apparently provided these countries valuable insights on handling a new health crisis.
Hong Kong, which had the most number of SARS-related deaths and infections next to China, quickly imposed protocols such as closing schools, imposing work-from-home arrangements, and tightening its borders. The use of hand sanitizers and thermal scanners were already commonplace.
The same was true for Taiwan, where temperature monitors to screen arriving travelers at airports have been in place since 2003. Taiwan was the first to ban flights from Wuhan, China, on Jan. 26, and had been screening passengers from that city since late December even before China admitted that human transmission occurred with the new coronavirus. Taipei implemented 124 safety protocols including border controls, school and work policies, hospital resource assessment, and hourly TV and radio public-service broadcasts on COVID-19.
READ MORE: https://opinion.inquirer.net/128234/what-theyve-done-right
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A price freeze is best enforced with public cooperation. The trade department is urging people to report overpricing and possible hoarding to the hotlines 1-384 or 1-DTI. Once violators are caught, the government must ensure that they face the full force of the law. Only the certainty of punishment will discourage people from profiting from other people’s misery.
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SG EDITORIAL:
The Straits Times says
Pitching in to help workers who serve all
Malaysia’s movement control order caused a record number of its workers, who are normally resident there, to cross over to Singapore on Tuesday night. It is reassuring that the vast majority of those who did were assisted with accommodation promptly by employers through a variety of means, such as staying with relatives, friends or colleagues, or being housed in hotels, dormitories, rooms or whole properties in both HDB flats and the private residential property market.
The authorities provided employers with housing support in the form of $50 a day for every worker. There are also reports of well-meaning individuals and groups who went out to help some individuals found spending the night in MRT stations. What all this has reflected is a recognition of the necessity to protect the well-being of workers who contribute substantially and consistently to Singapore’s economic vitality. To abandon these workers to the vagaries of market conditions, affected and altered by the Covid-19 outbreak, would have amounted to an abrogation of moral duty to assist those in need.
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COLUMNIST OPINION
Lack of clarity causes chaos
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As the government does its best to combat the Covid-19 outbreak, communicating with the public is still its biggest weakness.
And this apparent lack of crisis communication management is intensifying the confusion and destroying public confidence.
There has been a swath of embarrassing public faux pas that throws light on the lack of clear communication between government agencies, which in turn is resulting in conflicting, false or misleading announcements.
A case in point is the shutdown order of shopping malls and other services ordered by Bangkok Governor Aswin Kwanmuang yesterday.
When asked about the sudden order, Government spokeswoman Narumon Pinyosinwat warned the public to be aware of “fake news” and to “only believe in information released by the government and government agencies”.
