Cabbies go overboard against H1N1?

TAXI drivers are taking
care to avoid places such
as hospitals and airports
because they are afraid they
would catch the Influenza A
(H1N1) virus there.
Yesterday, the Health Ministry
confirmed three more cases,
bringing the total of infected patients
to 21.
Several cab drivers told my
paper that they have taken
precautionary measures since
the start of the global H1N1 outbreak
in late April this year.
Some of them, likeMr S. Lim,
58, have taken to disinfecting
their vehicles every day.
Mr Lim, who also makes it a
point to wind down his windows
each time he picks up a
passenger who is ill, said: “As
long as they cough or sneeze,
the windows would definitely be
down. I wouldn’t want to fall
sick, in any case, not just because
of H1N1.”
Other cabbies shun hospitals
unless they have passengers
who want to be dropped off
there.
Taxi driver Y. S. Chan, 56,
said: “Of course, when a passenger
boards my taxi and asks to
be taken to those places, I won’t
ask him to get out. I’d still take
him there.”
Another driver, Mr Raja K.,
60, said that he avoids taking
bookings to go to Tan Tock
Seng Hospital as H1N1 patients
are housed there.
Passengers, on the other
hand, thought that there was no
need to take such measures,
even as they felt there was no
harm in being cautious.
Mr Andrew Aaron, 20, an assistant
event coordinator, said:
“Taxi drivers still need to make
a living, H1N1 or not. Avoiding
certain places, especially the airport,
would result in less income
for them.”
Agreeing with Mr Aaron is
Mr Jerry Sim, 30, a manager:
“It is good to be vigilant, but
people visiting and leaving hospitals
need taxis, especially if
they are elderly. If drivers avoid
hospitals, how are the elderly going
to get there with ease?”
However, to undergraduate
Alex Tan, 22, there is a positive
side to cabbies’ caution.
“Taxis are now cleaner and I
seldom find disgusting used tissue
paper stuffed in the door
handles,” he said.
Others, likeMs Alice Lee, 25,
an accounts executive, said they
did not feel offended when tax

drivers ask them questions like
where they had travelled recently.
“The taxi driver asked me
where I returned from before I
boarded his taxi at the airport
but he wasn’t rude about it. So, I
was fine with it,” she said.
ccher@sph.com.sg
For more on H1N1, go to
www.razortv.com.sg