RMO Day 3 - Social Distancing

Social distancing in action

At the national level, it is called the Restricted Movement Order (RMO). The purpose is the divide the population not to be too close in clusters. And at the micro level, a similar rationale should be applied as well. Everybody should be at least a meter apart when coming into contact with strangers.

In the same spirit, social distancing is critical. I do realise that this is almost impossible to implement when you are all excited with your trolleys of toilet papers, but we should do it when we can.

Getting ready for work this morning

Grumpy boy, Irfan getting ready for class

In front of my clinic, you are only allowed to sit on the allocated chairs. Luckily, since the number of patients turning up was getting less, this was easy to organise. Similar arrangements were also made at other waiting area and cafeteria. However, implementing it in the ward remains a challenge. Some visitors were convinced that they are immune to infection when they step into the hospital.

The thinking behind social distancing is simple. Yes, it may stop droplet transmission between individual person, which may also helps. But, it boils down to preventing us congregating is closed spaces. Less density means that rather than 50 people in one small area, it would be less than ten. When it comes to lifts, things could get a bit trickier. The air circulation is limited, space is cramped and the possibility of touching walls and buttons are higher. Moving forward, maybe we should limit to less than 5 people per lift ride. The bottom line is, the more difficult we make people to be able to congregate, the better … and in the end, hopefully people only go only if it is absolutely necessary.

Chair on one side …

Not sure what this arrangement is called

For this, the hospital only allows a single visitor per patient. When asked why we did not allow any more than that? Well, the answer was easy. You were not even meant to come to the hospital unless there is a dire need. You may need to pass on some clothes or food for your family members admitted in the ward. That is fine, but even then, it should not take more than five minutes.

Family members who insisted on speaking to me will have to do so through the telephone. I prefer not to do any face to face meeting unless I called for it. Judging from the number of patients in the clinic, I reckon it would be even smaller next week. I am contemplating cancelling a few clinic sessions, but it may be too much for my clinic assistants to do.

Getting the foot traffic into the ward down is a right challenge

The obligatory “end of the day” shot

For the time being, please keep your hospital visits to a minimal. Stay at home. You are not just helping yourself, but the whole country ... Shall blog again tomorrow.