A lot can happen in two months. Since February, there have been two (soon to be three) Budgets, two mask distribution exercises, and progressively tighter movement controls. If we want to get things done, we can.

So why the lag? Given the potential for catastrophe, why did the government squander its precious lead time?

Misinformation and poor awareness is a legitimate concern, but a separate issue from dormitory overcrowding, which is beyond either residents’ or dormitory operators’ ability to solve. Only top-down instruction can achieve large-scale coordination of the kind necessary in ordinary times, let alone in a health crisis.

This was a strikingly obvious problem which needed time, attention, and resources to solve. The government could, and should, have acted much sooner. It did so with Singaporeans who needed help getting home from overseas exchanges and job postings. But right under our noses, migrant workers were once again left high and dry.

It would be laughable, and impossible, for the government to claim ignorance of how bad things could get. The more plausible assumption is that they simply did not care enough.

The bitter irony is that Singapore’s legendary preparedness has always been a point of pride. If making contingency plans was an Olympic sport, we would be World No.1. Time after time, our leaders have extolled that our vigilance, foresight, and talent for problem-spotting have saved our asses.

What if food imports dry up? Don’t worry, there’s a plan A, B, C, and D for that. Need to tap into the reserves? We can do that, we’ve been saving very prudently for years. What if Malaysia stops selling us water one day? No worries, we’ve been anticipating that since 1965!

The foot-dragging over workers’ dorms has exposed the hollowness of this self-praise. It is sickening hypocrisy to laud workers for their ‘contributions’ and lament how the UK and Switzerland ‘abandon[ed] any measure’ to contain the virus, when the dormitory issue was left unaddressed in plain sight. Our celebrated, ‘gold standard’ response had a citizenship blind spot.