Government’s three-pronged strategy to stop the spread: Plugging the gaps

18 April 2020

The Government's three-pronged strategy of arresting the exponential spread of cases in the worker dorms depends largely on confinement of the migrant workers.  This is operationalised by locking down dormitories that have proportionately large numbers of infections, enforcing similar restrictions on other such dormitories and relocating workers who perform  essential services. In a rapidly evolving situation with no clear guidebook for decision making, we hope that this strategy is revisited. HOME would like to propose some additional measures to this strategy based on recent  infection patterns and worker experiences.

Reducing Density of Dorms Must be a Priority 

This is critical if we wish to stop the spread of the virus and ensure that infected numbers are contained. We are concerned that only essential workers are being moved out of dorms or housed separately. The 7000 workers who have been moved out represent less than 1% of the total migrant workforce, and are a tiny fraction of those at risk. We urge the government to seriously consider what other migrant rights groups and experts have been advocating for months: to reduce the congestion in all dormitories (both PBDs and factory-converted dormitories) significantly so that workers are able to practice meaningful safe distancing. For safe distancing measures to be effective, we recommend that there should only be 4 men allocated to a room. Currently, a minimum of 12 men live in a single dormitory room.  

Minister Josephine Teo has said that socialising amongst workers is a reason for the increasing number of Covid-19 cases within dormitories. However, we need to be alive to the reality that these workers who live in such close proximity to each other cannot avoid coming into contact with each other multiple times a day.    

We understand that relocating hundreds of thousands of workers is no small task, but that must be the goal, and we have not exhausted all possibilities. A less congested living environment will also make the quarantine conditions more bearable for workers. We have received feedback from many workers that being isolated in their rooms for 22 hours a day (being allowed out only for mealtimes and showers) with 12 other men is starting to take a toll on their mental health. As can be expected when people have to live in very close quarters for long periods with few liberties, tensions, tempers and anxieties arise. Minister Josephine Teo said in her statement that we have to help workers adjust to these conditions, but we must seriously evaluate if these conditions are humane and liveable. We must not be afraid to make fundamental changes to migrant worker housing - we must use these novel times to bring about crucial structural changes to their living conditions. 

Circuit Breaker Measures Should be Fairly and Consistently Enforced

Most of us in Singapore are living in comparatively more sparsely populated homes than the workers housed in the dormitories. We have to abide by more lenient circuit-breaker measures than migrant workers do. We are allowed to leave home for exercise, or to run essential errands. On the contrary, we have heard of workers who are not even able to get Panadol for work-related injuries, and cannot leave to buy fruits (which are not provided to some of them). 

While the lockdown may be necessary in the Purpose Built Dormitories (PBDs) with high infection rates, we are not sure why an “effective lockdown” is being imposed in dormitories without clusters. This is highly restrictive, and puts many thousands of workers in a highly stressful, restrictive environment, and we hope concessions can be made to allow them some relief of the body and mind. Workers have also asked whether those who test negative for Covid-19 can be allowed to return to work sooner, so that they are relieved of these conditions. 

Communication Issues

Workers continue to experience information and communication gaps, which exacerbates their confusion and helplessness. For example, though Wifi access may have been made available in the dormitories, many workers have not been told. We have also received feedback that the signal strength is weakened by many workers being connected all at once, and that deprives them of the reprieve they may get through talking to family, reading updates on the Covid-19 situation or accessing entertainment. They also have to rely on media updates to get information about the daily number of new cases, and to understand the situation in their own dorms. We ask that FAST teams provide them with updates on these matters regularly. Moreover, those who are supporting the dormitory ecosystem must be able to provide information about basic things that workers enquire about, such as basic medical supplies (e.g. painkillers and paracetamol). The current helplines available to workers also have to be better-resourced; sometimes, workers are not able to get important information or support from them, and they are simply asked to call someone else.  

More Equitable Distribution of Resources

There are significant differences in the resources that are reaching different groups of migrant workers at this time, and the ways in which safe distancing measures are being applied. Workers who rent bedspace on the open market in areas like Geylang and Joo Chiat are some of the most vulnerable and under-served groups of migrant workers. We hope for the government’s support in working with organisations like HOME to ensure that they receive case management services, as well as supplies like masks and sanitisers. 

Care and Protection, Not Enforcement

While we focus on protecting workers from Covid-19, we must ensure that their human rights and dignity are protected too. We urge the government to guide dormitory staff, caterers, employers, FAST teams, security personnel and all others who come into contact with the workers to treat them as equals. We have heard from some workers that they experience rudeness, hostility and stigma from those meant to be caring for them. Some of them also feel intimidated by the constant police presence in their dorms. This can be very demoralising, on top of the many stress factors they face while under quarantine. We appeal to the government to engage these workers in a rights-based approach, which prioritises care and comfort, when they interact with these migrant workers.

Engage the Migrant Worker Community

We were heartened to see Minister Josephine Teo’s recent acknowledgement of the migrant workers who have stepped up to be ambassadors by volunteering with various operations in the dorms. We hope that their roles in crisis management can be strengthened at this time. This would also reduce the amount of people the government has to hire, train and deploy for the operations in the dorms. It will be uplifting for the workers to have a sense of purpose amidst the distress, and also to see their peers lead the coordinated response to the Covid-19 pandemic. As people always tend to cooperate with their peers more than anyone else, we hope collective ownership of the measures can be nurtured, rather than instilling top-down methods of surveillance and enforcement.

Testing

We are relieved that all workers in dorms with clusters are being tested for Covid-19. Public health experts have suggested that there have to be multiple cycles of testing, and we hope this will be done. We encourage the government to test all essential workers too, before moving them out, as medical screening might not reveal asymptomatic cases.

Assessing Implementation and Impact

Finally, the impact of the strategies that are being implemented can only be accurately understood if the media has uninhibited access to the dormitory conditions and in workers’ experiences, so that they can independently report on these issues. Workers have to be encouraged to speak up, and the government must reassure media outlets and workers alike that they will not face any negative repercussions for sharing truthful observations and experiences.