A day after Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong made a special appeal to older Singaporeans to stay home during the coronavirus outbreak, many senior citizens were still out doing their weekend shopping at markets yesterday.
Elderly shoppers The Sunday Times spoke to said they live alone and are reluctant to ask their children for help with errands as they can also be susceptible to the coronavirus.
A number of them said they were taking precautions like wearing masks and keeping their distance from others, so they did not believe it was an issue for them to be out.
At Ghim Moh Market and Food Centre at about 8am, many patrons there were seniors shopping alone.
Most of them wore surgical or cloth masks, although some had pulled their masks down their faces or were tugging at them.
The market was not too crowded and enforcement officers were seen inside and outside the market guiding patrons and reminding them to keep a safe distance.
Retiree Lim Kam Buay, 66, who lives in Dover, was at the market with a friend. They sported masks and exercise gear and had gone nearby to exercise at 5.30am before shopping for groceries.
She agreed that senior citizens should stay home, especially those who are very old or have health conditions. "But for us, we are active and we've been running every day for 20 years. We are out only to exercise and then buy groceries. And we start at 5.30am. It's very quiet at that time and there is no crowd at all."
Like many seniors that ST spoke to, she said she did not want to rely on her children for help with groceries as they live in a different area. Besides, they have their own families to tend to and are busier now that their children are on home-based learning.
Madam Lim said: "Why would I want to trouble them when I am fit and can walk and move around on my own?"
For some, like retiree S. H. Chew, 78, he and his siblings have no choice but to go out and buy food as they are all single. He lives with his brother, 67, and sister, 74.
PM Lee last Friday used part of an online video address on the coronavirus situation to speak directly to the elderly, a group considered most vulnerable to the virus.
With the death of a 90-year-old man announced last night, eight people in Singapore, aged between 64 and 90, have died due to the coronavirus.
In a Facebook post yesterday, President Halimah Yacob also urged the public to respect social distancing ambassadors when they are performing their duties, saying she was dismayed to learn from one such person that she and her colleagues "were abused and threatened even by members of the public, when they asked them to go home or checked them for not complying with other measures".
She added: "They are just doing their best, walking in the hot sun even to try and keep Singaporeans safe. The last thing that they should expect are insults and threats."
As for safe distancing efforts in markets, restrictions were also in place to regulate the movement of visitors into the wet market at Pasir Ris Drive 6. A queue of 25 people snaked around one of the entrances to the market at about 7.30am.
Almost everyone in the queue wore a mask and patrons generally maintained a safe distance of 1m from others.
Some seniors have come up with their own strategy for grocery shopping. Mr Anthony Tam, 62, drags his trolley behind him so that people do not trail him too closely. "I get dirty looks, but I don't care. You keep your distance," the retiree said with a laugh, speaking through his surgical mask on the way home after buying vegetables, pork and eggs.
He has been trying to avoid the market, but he made the grocery run yesterday as he had run out of fresh food. "We're not a society that takes frozen food. My daughter lives in the US and she orders stuff from Costco, but we don't have that culture here," he said, referring to the American big box retailer.
Bukit Timah Market and Food Centre was also cordoned off yesterday, with only one entry and exit point, but there was no queue from 7.30am to 9am. Many patrons observed safe distancing rules and others complied on the few occasions National Environment Agency officers reminded them to do so.
One fishmonger yesterday said the market was not as crowded as last Friday, which was a public holiday. He added that he had fewer customers yesterday than the day before. "I think what PM Lee said has had an effect. And compared with Saturday mornings in normal times, the difference (in business) is like that between the sky and the earth."
At Marsiling Lane Market and Food Centre, the place was packed with people who were not keeping a safe distance of 1m, before enforcement officers arrived at 7am to regulate the entry of patrons. A few senior citizens were spotted buying vegetables and meat.
• Additional reporting by Tham Yuen-C, Toh Wen Li and Lester Wong
