Valentine's Day 2020 is coming, but should you?

It is probably a given that you are not the only one pondering this question since the novel coronavirus is already here and it is known to spread via bodily fluids.

As highly personal and none-of-your-business as this question sounds, it is now, funnily enough, a matter of public health.

Everyone's worried about bodily fluids these days

At no point in recent memory has the state or so many people at the same time been so concerned about human-to-human viral transmissions stemming from the indiscriminate ejection of secretions.

Because the last thing anyone needs is a community spread of Covid-19 in Singapore -- right after V-Day.

You can already imagine the news.

Despite warnings about viruses spreading through droplets and fluids that can enter the body via all available orifices, there is a spike in Covid-19 infections in the 14 days after Feb. 14.

Why? Because when passion overtakes caution, a lot of things go out the window.

Which includes all the constant reminders of maintaining personal hygiene, and the millions of dollars spent in media buys on reminders to wash your hands and not to touch your face or put random things in your mouth.

An outbreak after V-Day will show the futility of public health advisories in the face of a commercialised occasion to get amorous.

But on the bright side, both the spirit and flesh are willing makes an encouraging story of the triumph of the evolutionary desire for coupling that outweighs any thoughts of contributing to a national health crisis.

Sneezing in the streets, but freak between the sheets.

Such are the times.

Is the state in a bind?

So, what can, or should, be done besides preaching personal responsibility?

On normal days, if one party has a headache, all bets are off.

These days, if one is sneezing, love in the time of corona should definitely proceed with caution.

The simple fact, though, is that the state has more urgent things to worry about dealing with the important Covid-19 issues on a day-to-day basis than to address the potential repercussions from amorous activities among Singapore's consenting adults.

But the state at the same time also obviously cannot intervene by making broad pronouncements that people ought to worry about their secretions, without coming off as overly prescriptive and paternalistic in typical Singaporean fashion.

Then again, stopping short of even saying a thing is the best way forward.

We are, therefore, in unprecedented times.

The last thing the Singapore government wants -- and this is a prediction -- is for Covid-19 infections to surge following V-Day festivities.

The hilarity of it will not be lost on Singaporeans.

It could also see the slowdown and testiness all around prolonged.

So, what is one to day?

As the old adage goes: You shouldn't put stuff into other stuff if you cannot trust the other person with your ATM pin number.

And these days, knowing a person well enough means knowing where one has been the last 14 days.

But what's life without taking a chance?

Especially if the mortality rate is 2 per cent.

Image from Pixabay