A member of Indonesia’s Ombudsman today offered some suggestions for the Bali administration in the struggle against COVID-19, from releasing contact tracing data for the general public to quarantining coronavirus patients out at sea.
Umar Ibnu Alkhatab, who heads the Bali chapter of the Indonesian Ombudsman, told local media outlets that quarantining asymptomatic COVID patients at sea is potentially effective, and would also help support boat and cruise businesses while saving the administration’s budget.
“We should make the most of the empty space at sea. Using the facilities that already exist. Other than all that, the asymptomatic patients would grow easily bored just staying at their hotels. [At sea], the view is broader and continues to change, [as we] break the chain of contacts,” Umar said.
As the provincial government is already working with hotels in the region to provide space for quarantining patients, Umar said this would help distribute the income to reach cruise and boat companies, claiming that it might be even cheaper.
Furthermore, Umar is urging Bali officials to share contact tracing data from confirmed COVID cases with the public.
“The public must know contact tracing information so they can protect themselves, their families and their environment on their own,” Umar said.
Respect for data privacy is arguably low in Indonesia, and Umar said revealing such sensitive data can be done carefully, by merely revealing the patients’ residential information without disclosing more specific details.
Bali, along with the rest of Indonesia, is facing its most devastating wave of the coronavirus yet. The province today broke the record for daily new infections for the second consecutive day with 674 cases. Governor Wayan Koster said on Tuesday that the cases spike is the direct result of increased tracing in the province, amounting to about 3,000 people per day.
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