LETTER | Fear of commuting during MCO

LETTER | Keeping social distance and wearing masks are crucial when you are using public transport. But despite the warnings, it appears that people are not taking it very seriously when commuting.

The new norm to stay at home only worked for the first two weeks of the movement control order (MCO). After that, several companies started operating until 7pm as allowed. 

Although more people started using public transport at that time, social distancing was still manageable, keeping at least a one-seat gap with one another.

As businesses reopen after over 50 days, more and more people are going to work, loitering at malls and meeting up.

This has led to an increase in people using public transport, causing difficulties to adhere to social distancing. This is especially so when using the KTM commuter trains as keeping one meter apart is quite impossible since the frequency and number of KTM trains are limited. 

Some people, including myself, do not have the privilege to own a vehicle and we have to rely on public transport to commute to work despite the fear of being affected. We have to continue working to keep food on our plate.

Another problem with commuting during the virus outbreak is that not everyone is wearing a mask when going out and even fewer people are wearing one now.

From my daily commute, not many are taking social distancing and other preventive measures seriously. This is because they have not yet experienced any symptoms or loss of family members from Covid-19. 

Updates from the Health Ministry showing mostly foreign workers infected have caused Malaysians to believe that they are only at a small risk of contracting the virus.

Our transport operators cannot control the number of people using its services. However, social distancing only works best if everyone continues to do it. 

Remind yourself to not go out if it's unnecessary since not everyone has the choice and must put themselves at risk of being infected.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.