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Thursday, March 4, 2021

Virus looms large in Penang; Foreign worker tests behind rise in factory clusters

Virus looms large in Penang 

In the final week of February, Penang saw 922 new cases.

PENANG’S Covid-19 infectivity or R0 stood at 1.01 on the last day of February, compared with the national average R0 of 0.91, said Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow.

R0 – pronounced R-naught – is an indicator showing how contagious a disease is.

Chow said in the final week of February, between Feb 21 and 27, Penang saw 922 new cases.

Out of this, 574 cases (62.25%) were locals and 348 (37.74%) comprised foreigners.

“A total of 16,180 Covid-19 tests were done throughout that week by various health facilities under the supervision of state Health Department.

“The majority of screenings were focused on close contacts of positive patients, screening at workplaces in factories as well as construction sites, and symptomatic screenings.

“For the screening of foreigners either registered under Socso’s Prihatin Screening Programme or under employers’ initiatives in manufacturing and construction, the state Health Department reported that as of Feb 28,68,939 people had undergone screening and 2,435 positive cases were detected, ” he said in a statement after attending a National Security Council (NSC) virtual meeting on the management of Covid-19 chaired by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin on Monday.

Chow added that the current approach was aspect-based public health as well as vaccinations.

“The Health Ministry as well as Energy, Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry are urged to continue to move in tandem with the Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF), which was specially established at the state level.

“In Penang, phase one of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme has been running smoothly in every district.

“Our frontliners will always remain the priority as a commitment and principle held by the state government over the years.

“Let us all together make the vaccination programme a success, which is important to revive the growth of the economy in the state, ” he said.

Chow said in the NSC meeting, the technical committee was asked to examine the standard operating procedures of the tourism sector.

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Factory clusters made up about 60% of newly-detected workplace infections in the past fortnight.


Manufacturers attribute this to more tests which resulted in a steady rise in workplace clusters as the screenings were able to pick up more cases among workers. 

Covid-19 screenings for foreign workers that ended in February have been attributed to factories making up about 60% of new workplace clusters, says the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM).

Its president Tan Sri Soh Thian Lai said one possible reason for the increase in workplace clusters was the rise in community transmission, especially after the start of the third wave of the virus last year.

“Covid-19 is already within the community with 89% of patients being asymptomatic or showing mild symptoms.

“This is despite the government’s efforts to mitigate the spread of the virus and industries implementing the necessary standard operating procedure and precautionary measures,” he said when citing a media report in December.

Soh added that it was then made mandatory for foreign workers to undergo Covid-19 screenings, effective last December.

“The mandatory screenings were conducted in phases until Feb 28.

“As a result, we have seen a steady rise in workplace clusters as the screenings were able to pick up more cases among workers, especially those who were asymptomatic,” he said.

Based on Health Ministry data from Feb 13 to 28, factories contributed to 92 out of 146 new workplace clusters (63%) that emerged in the last couple of weeks.

This is an increase from the period between Jan 28 and Feb 12, where 49% of new workplace clusters were located in factories.

Other notable workplace clusters from Feb 13 to Feb 28 were construction sites (12%), markets and restaurants (8%), public administrative centres (3%) and educational institutions (2%).

Even when including non-workplace clusters such as community clusters, factories still made up 52% of the clusters.

Among the factory clusters, about 47% were located in Johor, while Selangor and Penang made up 34% and 7% respectively.

Soh said FMM had reminded its members to implement proactive measures to prevent Covid-19 outbreaks at the workplace and at workers’ living quarters.

“Among the measures are paying greater attention to workers’ hostels and housing, ensuring compliance with strict SOP, including the requirement for physical distancing in the living environment and imposing such requirements on sub-contract workers.

“We limited the capacity of vehicles or buses ferrying workers to 50% or less to ensure physical distancing.

“We implemented measures such as working in rotations or relocating staff to minimise closure of entire sections. We also appointed a senior management member of the company to oversee SOP compliance at the workplace,” he said.

However, Soh said there had been difficulty in monitoring and controlling the activities of employees outside the workplace.

Complying with housing standards for workers also proved a challenge as there was acute shortage of accommodation space, he added.

“There is also a lack of centralised living quarters to house workers, and it has been challenging to get approvals from the local councils for the use and conversion of shoplots as accommodation,” he said.

Soh said there were also strong objections from resident associations and joint management bodies when trying to house workers in residential areas.


Scientist suggests a more effective approach to COVID-19 ...

Why Zoom can wipe you out


 It’s not just you: Zoom fatigue is a real thing. — Dreamstime/TNS

 

Covid-19 pandemic has moved our lives into a virtual space. Why is that so exhausting?

The tiredness doesn’t feel earned. We’re not flying an airplane, teaching toddlers or rescuing people trapped in burning buildings. Still, by the end of the day, the feeling is so universal that it has its own name: Zoom Fatigue.

Stanford University professor Jeremy Bailenson, founding director of the Stanford Virtual Human Interaction Lab, has some answers.

In research published Tuesday in the journal Technology, Mind And Behavior, he describes the psychological impact of spending hours every day on Zoom, Google Hangouts, Skype, FaceTime, or other video-calling interfaces. It’s the first peer-reviewed article to analyze zoom fatigue from a psychological perspective.

There are four major reasons, according to Bailenson, that video chats make us so weary. And he proposes some easy fixes.

We’re too close for comfort

Think of the normal meeting. You might be looking at the speaker. Or maybe you’re noticing those fancy new window blinds, your colleague’s weekend tan or the traffic on the streets below.

But on Zoom calls, everyone is staring at everyone, all the time. And our faces can appear too large.

When so many faces are so close to ours in real life, our subconscious takes it personally. It tells us: They either want to pick a fight, or have sex.

“ What’s happening, in effect, when you’re using Zoom for many, many hours is you’re in this hyper-aroused state,” according to Bailenson.

Solution: Exit out of the full-screen option to shrink face size. Use an external keyboard to create a comfortable space between yourself and the masses.

We really hate watching ourselves

For most of us, that quick morning glimpse in the mirror is all we really need. After hours of self-gazing, we turn critical.

We notice that sloppy shave job. The overdue haircut. The dead plant over our left shoulder. Or maybe the light’s all wrong, casting deep shadows, and we look like a member of the witness protection programme.

“It’s taxing on us. It’s stressful,” said Bailenson. “There are negative emotional consequences to seeing yourself in a mirror.”

Solution: Use the “hide self-view” button, which you can access by right-clicking your own photo, once your face is framed properly in the video.

We’re trapped in a chair

Humans are restless creatures. During phone calls, we like to wander around. Even if stuck at a meeting at a conference table, we find ways to stretch – leaning back in a chair or gazing pensively at the ceiling.

But with videoconferencing, we’re limited by the camera’s narrow field of view.

This is both physically and mentally deadening. “There’s a growing research now that says when people are moving, they’re performing better cognitively,” Bailenson said.

Solution:

An external camera farther away from the screen lets you doodle, release neck tension, do a seated twist or fidget, just like you do in real meetings.

Turning video off periodically during meetings is a good ground rule to set for groups, creating a brief nonverbal rest.

We can’t see body language, so it takes more energy to communicate

At their best, meetings can act like subtle symphonies, with everyone harmonising their postures, laughter and knowing glances. We read each other’s cues. Conversations have rhythm.

Not so with Zoom. There’s a rigidity, with only one speaker at a time. We must listen closely for sentence completion, so we don’t interrupt. To make an important point, we must add drama and flair. “If you want to show someone that you are agreeing with them, you have to do an exaggerated nod or put your thumbs up,” said Bailenson. “That adds cognitive load as you’re using mental calories in order to communicate.”

Solution: During long stretches of meetings, give yourself an “audio only” break.

Don’t just turn off your camera – turn your body away from the screen. Gaze at that wall that needs painting, or the birds outside the window. Maybe hang up a few clothes, even wash a few dishes.

Want to measure your own Zoom fatigue? Because so many organisations – including schools, large companies and government entities – have reached out to Stanford communication researchers to improve videoconferencing setups, the team responded by devising the Zoom Exhaustion & Fatigue Scale, or ZEF Scale, to help measure workplace exhaustion.

The goal is to help change video technologies, so stressors are reduced.

To take the survey and participate in the research project, click here. – The Mercury News/Tribhttps://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2021/02/24/new-research-why-zoom-can-wipe-you-outune News Service

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Tuesday, March 2, 2021

The root of the matter: shame - shamefulness and shamelessness


A new book by Malaysian grief therapist discusses shameinformed counselling and psychotherapy.


WHEN the first movement control order was implemented in March last year, grief therapist and psychotherapist Dr Edmund Ng started writing about shame. It is a subject that the 68-year-old licensed counsellor is well-acquainted with, having 15 years of professional practice under his belt.

More specifically, he had recently completed a two-year field research involving Malaysian women who have suffered perinatal losses such as miscarriages, stillbirths and neonatal deaths, and had formulated an approach to shame-informed counselling and psychotherapy that he wanted to share.

“Shame is in fact the root cause of most of the psychological problems faced by mankind. The dynamics of shame are seen in every culture around the world, although they are patterned differently and to varying degrees in different societies.

“For example, the American society also has a shame-based culture like the East, but there, shame remains hidden because the taboo on it is so strong that the people behave as if shame does not exist,” he says.

Recently, Ng’s new book, Shameinformed Counselling And Psychotherapy: Eastern And Western 
Perspectives, was published as a hardcover monograph by British publisher Routledge.
 
“It is a rare honour for a Malaysian to be able to publish a psychology book through Routledge as it is a prestigious publisher in the academic world.

“Publishing a book through Routledge is the dream of many professors of the best universities in the world. A monograph ranks above a reference book or textbook in terms of stature,” Ng says.

So what exactly is shameinformed counselling and psychotherapy?

Ng explains it succinctly: A professional intervention to resolve many psychological problems with a focus on treating not just the surface symptoms but dealing with the root cause, which originates from shame.

“The approach is used only as a supplementary intervention and not as a replacement of first-level interventions. Addressing shame this way is more appropriate because most people do not seek professional help merely over their shame, but over some other psychological manifestations, without a clue that shame is the root cause of their problems,” he explains.

Ng adds that there are hardly any educational modules on addressing shame being taught in counselling courses offered by tertiary institutions, and limited psychological literature on shame.

Of these, most are written from the Western perspective.

“However, there are differing perceptions and expressions of shame arising from the fundamental differences in the primary cultures in the East and West. So essentially, my book is written as a contribution to therapists who bemoan the fact that shame is notoriously difficult to admit, discuss and treat, especially when the patient comes from a different culture,” he says.

While Ng’s field research findings on shame in perinatal losses provide some empirical evidence of the characteristics of shame in the East in comparison with what Western literature and research tell us, other real-life case studies are also described in his book.

“I have endeavoured to write in a style that is as simple to read as possible and so the book is useful to academicians, researchers, educators, practitioners, students and laymen alike.

“Not only will the readers capture a nuanced understanding of the complex nature of shame and its differences in the East and West, they will be equipped with an effective approach to address shame’s adverse psychological effects on people,” he shares.

Interestingly, Ng notes that even in our “conservative” Malaysian society, the level of shamefulness and shamelessness is relatively high.

Shamefulness represents an extremely high level of acute shame, while shamelessness refers to a state where very little or no shame is experienced by the person at all.

“My two-year study on shame in the Klang Valley has revealed that the prevalence of shamefulness is as high as 23.8% but the prevalence of shamelessness is even higher at 33.3%.

“Research in neuroscience tells us that too high a level of shame and too little or no sense of shame can often result in irresponsible behaviour in public, due to the impairment of higher order mental processes essential for considered, good and value-based decision-making.

“This is one of the major factors that will generate more social disorders, corruption and other forms of evil in society,” he says.

Ng is also one of three Asians accredited as a Fellow in Thanatology by the Association of Death Education and Counselling (ADEC) in the United States.

Thanatology is the scientific study of dying, death and grief.

Besides grief therapy, he also specialises in personality disorders and psychological issues rooted in shame. His venture into this field happened shortly after a personal tragedy.

“For 20 years, I ran a business practice until 2005 when my first wife died from a brain aneurysm. I was devastated. To help myself, I studied psychology and counselling in Australia and then specialised in grief therapy in the United States. At that time, Malaysians hardly hear of grief counselling and its benefits,” he relates.

In 2007, together with his present wife Pauline Chong, Ng started Grace to Grieving Persons Outreach (GGP), a free community service that offers pro bono grief counselling to people who have lost their loved ones.

Today, they work together with a group of trained caregivers at GGP to provide support to those in need.

By ROUWEN LIN lifestyle@thestar.com.my 
 
 
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