Singapore is completely freaked out by Swine Flu. They have good reason. SARs really crippled the economy as they are so tourist and transit-based, so they are not about to let an epidemic strike without a real fight.
They already have enough Tamiflu for the whole country. That has been done for a while.
They scan every passenger coming into Singapore--flights, boats, driving, buses...for a fever. They screen kids at every school before they go into class. They screen every person who comes to a medical center, hospital or doctor's office. They not only take temperatures, they get a full history of travel for last 14 days and address, id and phone numbers. I do think its a little ironic that they are telling some people who are at the doctor's office that they are sick--I mean, that is generally the reason you go to a doctor....Anyway, they will find case zero here and they will find it before the doctor does!
Anyone who gets back from any country where there is swine flu cannot go to school for 7 days.
There is a quarantine for everyone coming from Mexico and some others who come from Hong Kong or have some symptoms. The government puts these quarantined people up in a "resort" for 7 days with meals included (and delivered) if you cannot (because you have other family members who work/go to school) do your quarantine at home or you don't live in Singapore. If you do choose to do your quarantine at home they have CCTC that they can get you to stand in front of whenever they call. In both situations, there is someone who comes to monitor your symptoms and temperature 3 times a day.
If you break your quarantine you are fined $10,000 and can go to jail for 6 months (presumably when they are sure you are not contagious) and a second infraction is $20,000 and 1 year in jail.
None of the niceties of whether this infringes on your privacy--your privacy is of no consequence or import when there is an infectious disease that could do a SARs on their economy.
I have told you that if you want to see the right way to do things you should see how its done here. This applies to anything that takes planning and coordination (from metro systems to health screening to Formula One racing). This does not apply to creating a free-thinking, quick-witted and courteous work force. Perhaps you can see some cause and effect. Obviously every quick-witted, free-thinking person is in the government.
Things that may not interest anyone:
1) There is no way to get a proper eyebrow waxing here. Apparently in an Oriental-heavy society, eyebrows must be hard to grow so there is no way they are going to shape the eyebrow if it means diminishing the quantity...I have got to get back to NYC!
2) I had no idea that toe nail length could be culturally influenced. I thought there was a world-wide preference and anything longer than that was in between the stages of having been trimmed and going to be trimmed in a short while.
This is not true. Much like fingernails, there is variability in desired length--with the default length long enough for me to feel that one has forgotten to look at one's feet in some time. This is not just unkempt feet--this is true for ladies with polished and primped toes--its like long fingernails. I guess when you never wear a shoe with a closed toe it can actually work. I don't think this is a fashion import the US has to rush to accept.
Alright, that should be it!
Faith
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