In his commentary, former Straits Times editor Leslie Fong raised the concept of thumos, described as "the inner force that moves a person to speak out or act in resentment against those who brush him and his views aside because they consider him as uninformed or incapable of understanding the truths they know" (What lies beneath the unhappiness over Covid resurgence in S'pore?, May 20).

He pondered if this is why social media comments reflect "unhappiness that early calls for a pause to arrivals from high-risk countries had gone unheeded".

I'm not so sure thumos alone can justify blame when "damned if they do, damned if they don't" is the lot of decision-makers, whatever the issue.

A backseat driver's perspective and responsibility are not equal to a driver's.

An elected driver can consider comments from those he drives, but the call is eventually his to make, not the distracting backseat committee's - for everyone's safety.

That is why calls for feedback often come with the caveat that "we consider all feedback seriously but cannot incorporate all suggestions made". This, the cynical could infer as "a public relations exercise".

There is also hindsight bias: Had Covid-19 infections not suddenly spiked, prior grousing about imported threats would not have been validated.

Taiwan is suffering a recent resurgence, too, without South Asian arrivals.

Desiree Chan Si Ni