SOMEONE I know who is as dear to me as the moon is to the earth tells of an anxious episode that has yet to end.
Balder (not his real name) asks me: "Am I overreacting? After all, there are tens of thousands others who are probably facing the same or a greater difficulty."
Yeah, every horse thinks its own pack heaviest. But you readers be the judge.
You see, Balder went to a hypermarket near his home to get some vegetables. This was four days after he had received a Covid-19 vaccine.
"The day after going to the outlet, I received a forwarded message in my neighbourhood WhatsApp group. It said the hypermarket was closed for a day because nine employees tested positive for Covid-19. There were some unkind remarks in the message too."
Now Balder is the type of fellow who takes almost everything he reads in this crazy world with a pinch of salt.
But because he has a vested interest in the matter, he decided to investigate it.
"I drove to the hypermarket. Sure enough, it was closed."
There was a man at one of the entrances, Balder tells me. He didn't look like a guard, but he was waving off a handful of people who headed in his direction.
"I went up to him to find out what was happening. But he could only say the hypermarket was closed."
Balder was not satisfied. He checked the hypermarket's Facebook page. It made mention of the shuttering of another outlet elsewhere. But nothing on the one he went to.
But several other customers who had visited the same hypermarket as Balder shared common concerns. They left comments on the FB page asking about the closure.
No one from the hypermarket's management responded though. Someone, obviously irritated, asked if they were on holiday.
So an exasperated Balder called a telephone number listed on the page.
"The lady who answered me sounded a little hesitant at first. Then she said that 'one staff' at the outlet had tested positive.
"I asked, 'Not nine?' Which section is he or she working in. Is the person a cashier?"
The woman told Balder the worker had multiple roles. If he wanted more information, he could call the Health Ministry's Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre (CPRC) at 03-88810200.
He tried several times to reach this centre, but no one answered. He checked his MySejahtera app. There was no change in status. He was still "Low Risk".
"I am seeking information because I want to know if I should do a Covid-19 swab test. Not for anything else. Am I a potential risk to anyone?" But none could help him.
The next day, though, the hypermarket's management put up a notice on Facebook. It said the store in Balder's area was reopening the same day, and that this was done only after other employees had been tested and given the all-clear.
It also said that if further information was needed, a call could be made to the CPRC. Two more numbers were given, 03-88810600/0700.
"It's strange that the hypermarket did not announce the closure but advertised the reopening instead. And that, too, in vague terms," says Balder.
"I tried calling the Health Ministry hotline numbers again. After numerous attempts I got through, but the person who spoke to me could not offer more information than what was already stated in the hypermarket's Facebook page. It's so disappointing.
"My MySejahtera status still reads 'Low Risk', not 'Casual Contact', not 'Close Contact'. But I visited the hypermarket, which implicitly admits it has workers infected with Covid-19.
"Were they in the hypermarket when many others and I were also there? Is there a time lag in the status update in MySejahtera? Should I update the MySejahtera profile based on what I think I know, or on facts which the hypermarket has yet to reveal," Balder asks.
Maybe he is overreacting. But who can blame him, considering the grim numbers we are witnessing daily? Poor chap.
And I can't answer his questions. It is tough to get answers when the virus is spreading at the speed of light, outrunning the ability of people to deal with it and perhaps exposing incompetence too.
I can only hope, and pray, his episode ends on a good note.
The writer is NST production editor
