MathPlus's definitions

Pandemic Purgatory

When countries are caught between the desire to open up their borders to lure tourists to their shores and the fear of triggering new waves of infections.

Singapore finds itself in a pandemic purgatory situation: Should it allow thousands of migrant workers back to revive its comatose construction industry, or should it wait until the infection rates in the countries where these workers come from to head south?

by MathPlus March 21, 2022

Viral Separation

When someone would dump their boyfriend or girlfriend, or even their fiancé or fiancée, after they were tested positive for the coronavirus, because they reasoned that any offspring from them might not grow into a healthy person, whose DNA would have been compromised by infected cells, or who might be carriers of yet-to-be-detected corona diseases for future generations.

Guesstimate how many couples worldwide quietly or unexplainably parted ways due to viral separation since the beginning of the pandemic.

by MathPlus March 20, 2022

Blind Faith

When the ghosts of atheists, agnostics, or nominal believers who had their lives cut short by the pandemic on earth would still visit their place of worship every week or month to pray for themselves and their loved ones, while they are waiting in transit for the outcome of their eternal home.

Dave’s spirit, who was rekindled by blind faith, would show up on the first and fifteenth days at the temple to pray for the gods and goddesses of good health and prosperity to bless his siblings and schoolmates, and sometimes even for his bosses-turned-bullies.

by MathPlus March 18, 2022

Pandemic Ghost

The spirit of death that loves visiting the ICUs to usher departed wicked souls, who were not able to see their loved ones before their last heartbeat, to an even darker side of eternity, because their earthly deeds fall short of the criteria to entering heaven.

Most born-again Christians aren’t frightened of the pandemic ghost, because they know that their Savior and the angels are waiting for them at St. Peter’s Gate.

by MathPlus March 17, 2022

Living with Covid-19

An acknowledgment that we have to respect rather than reject the virus—we needn’t be petrified or paralyzed by the pandemic, but we must not lose sight of the danger the virus poses, which could result in death, in the event of infection or reinfection (with or without vaccination).

After governments realized that “Zero Covid” wasn’t feasible, they reluctantly shifted their strategy to “Living with Covid-19,” as their populations reach endemicity and hopefully achieve herd immunity in a-not-too-distant future.

by MathPlus March 11, 2022

The Air Travel Bubble Hypothesis

Every time two countries announce an air travel bubble, one of them will see a spike in corona cases closer to the flight date, dashing hopes of paid travellers, who would nevertheless be consoled that they would be given first priority for the next fight if they were not to cancel their booking.

On the one occasion when the air travel bubble hypothesis was apparently proved wrong, the decades-old Soviet plane that was carrying a few dozen Russian mercenaries and terrorists was never heard again after take-off—had the ATB hypothesis struck in a more deadly form?

by MathPlus March 11, 2022

Singapore Covidoid

A humanoid robot that unprovenly supplies the daily random numbers of infections and deaths via the Ministry of Health (MOH) to the mainstream media, especially now that the majority of the population view each infection as a mere statistic, because it no longer matters to them whether it is a few tens or a few ten thousands.

Since Singapore started registering daily five-digit infections, to give locals the illusion that the infections data are meticulously collected from thousands of doctors islandwide, and to cut down on manpower, the authorities had apparently tasked a Singapore covidoid to spy on the population’s social media posts and tweets and pseudo-encrypted SMSes to formulate a daily figure on both infection and mortality cases.

by MathPlus March 7, 2022