With Singapore’s circuit breaker measures set to be lifted in three phases after June 1, the Multi-Ministry Taskforce has laid out a set of rules for seniors to follow.
As this group of people fall into the high risk category, they have been advised to continue to take extra precautions even after the circuit breaker ends.
Phase 1 (Safe Opening)
Phase 1 will see more activities and interactions, which also means that they is a higher risk of community transmission.
“Therefore seniors should continue to stay at home as much as possible. We will continue with most Circuit Breaker measures for seniors in Phase 1, to ensure that they stay safe,” said a statement by the Ministry of Health.
What’s allowed
- Family members will be allowed to visit their parents or grandparents staying elsewhere. However, this is capped at two visitors from the same visiting household per day to minimise risk of exposure.
- Dropping off children at parents’ and grandparents’ homes for childcare. This is also subject to the limit mentioned above.
- Essential services such as residential care services, home care, and meals support will continue operations
- There will be a gradual resumption of some activities for clients of Senior Activity Centres (SACs) and Community Resource, Engagement and Support Team (CREST). In order to keep interactions low, these will be limited to activities that can be done individually (e.g. craftwork, reading, gardening), and with restrictions on the activity duration and total number of persons per session.
- SACs, CREST, befriending and counselling services will continue phone check-ins on their clients, and home visits will resume.
What’s not allowed
- Seniors should not leave their houses to visit family members, as this will increase their risk of infection e.g. while commuting.
- All centre-based care services will remain suspended, except for designated centres which will serve seniors without alternative caregiving arrangements.
- All senior-centric activities organised by the People’s Association, Health Promotion Board, SportSG and the Council for Third Age will remain suspended.
- All activities that involve physical interactions amongst seniors, such as interest groups, events, and other gatherings targeted at seniors should also continue to be suspended.
- Face-to-face visits in residential homes will continue to be suspended. AIC will continue supporting homes to use phone or video calls for families to keep in touch.
Also read: What you need to know about Singapore's 3 post-circuit breaker phases
Phases 2 (“Safe Transition”) and 3 (“Safe Nation”)
If the community transmission rate remains low and stable, more activities can be resumed in Phase 2. This includes reviewing the restrictions on visits at residential care homes as well as among different households, and increasing the activities of centre-based care services.
“Depending on the COVID-19 situation and our risk assessment, we will continue to ease measures gradually and eventually reach a new normal in Phase 3,” the statement added. “Seniors can resume day-to-day activities and we can allow social activities in small groups, with safe distancing measures and other precautions remaining in place. Seniors can then look forward to activities like cooking classes and fitness programmes again.”
Further details on what will be allowed in Phases 2 and 3 will be announced at a later date.