04-21-2020, 11:46 AM
** 21-Apr-2020 World View: Coronavirus in Germany and Singapore
Here are a couple of news items that I just heard on CNN.
In Germany, Angela Merkel has canceled Octoberfest. This is not
surprising, but it does provide a shock to those who were hoping that
everything would return to normal by the end of the summer.
In Singapore, strict lockdown laws are being extended for additional
weeks. Singapore had been held up internationally as a model for how
to deal with the virus successfully, but now the number of cases is
exploding, especially among guest workers.
A couple of additional notes about Singapore:
Donald Trump announced he would sign an executive order stopping even
legal immigration. The details have yet to be announced, and there
are sure to be a lot of exceptions. People on the left and right have
expressed puzzlement about why this is being done, but it's possible
that the Singapore experience is one of the reasons.
The current temperature in Singapore is around 90 degees F. I wrote
several months ago that since Singapore is right on the equator, it
would provide a test case for whether the virus would die out during
the summer. If Singapore is seeing an explosion in cases, this would
suggest that the virus will continue to spread during the summer.
Even worse, it may mutate during the summer into something more
virulent, as happened during the Spanish Flu pandemic in summer 1918.
Here are a couple of news items that I just heard on CNN.
In Germany, Angela Merkel has canceled Octoberfest. This is not
surprising, but it does provide a shock to those who were hoping that
everything would return to normal by the end of the summer.
In Singapore, strict lockdown laws are being extended for additional
weeks. Singapore had been held up internationally as a model for how
to deal with the virus successfully, but now the number of cases is
exploding, especially among guest workers.
A couple of additional notes about Singapore:
Donald Trump announced he would sign an executive order stopping even
legal immigration. The details have yet to be announced, and there
are sure to be a lot of exceptions. People on the left and right have
expressed puzzlement about why this is being done, but it's possible
that the Singapore experience is one of the reasons.
The current temperature in Singapore is around 90 degees F. I wrote
several months ago that since Singapore is right on the equator, it
would provide a test case for whether the virus would die out during
the summer. If Singapore is seeing an explosion in cases, this would
suggest that the virus will continue to spread during the summer.
Even worse, it may mutate during the summer into something more
virulent, as happened during the Spanish Flu pandemic in summer 1918.
Quote:> "The climate in Singapore is equatorial, ie hot,
> humid, and rainy throughout the year. The country, which is at the
> same time an island, a city, and a state, is actually at the
> Equator, in an area where there are always the conditions for the
> formation of showers and thunderstorms.
> Although the climate is fairly uniform, there are some variations
> in the course of the year due to the two monsoons: the north-east
> monsoon, which occurs from November to early March and is more
> rainy, especially in the first part, and the south-west monsoon,
> which occurs from June to September. The first period between the
> two monsoon, from March to early June, is the hottest and the most
> unpleasant of the year.
> Temperatures in Singapore are quite uniform, since they only vary
> by a few degrees between the coolest and the warmest months. The
> minimum temperature ranges from 23 °C (73 °F) in December and
> January to 25 °C (77 °F) in May and June, while the maximum ranges
> from 30 °C (86 °F) in December and January to 32 °C (90 °F) in
> April and May."
> https://www.climatestotravel.com/climate/singapore
