WUE·新加坡 | 疫情下，我为父亲办了一场葬礼

Original 地球er 地球公场 2022-08-09

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在人类可以移居火星之前，我们还生活在同一个地球。不分国界，不分种族，不分信仰，不分时区，我们都是观念上的地球公民。在这个地球公场，让我们呼吁理解、联结、合作、彼此支撑与爱。

编者按

截至北京时间6月16日，全球COVID-19累计确诊病例超过800万。东南亚地区累计确诊病例超过47万，其中新加坡累计确诊病例有40,969例，现有确诊病例15,066例，已经治愈病例25,877例，死亡26例。

自3月底以来，新加坡爆发了新的集体感染情况，尤其是在外来劳工宿舍爆发群体性感染后，确诊病例数急剧增长。4月7日，政府颁布阻断令（Circuit Breaker），建议人们保持社交距离。

从6月开始，新加坡的阻断令结束，开始分三阶段逐步开放。目前仍处在第一阶段，已经重新开放一些不会带来高传播风险的经济活动；人们出门需戴口罩；学校开始有序复课。

Hong是新加坡人，在新加坡出生并生活了四十多年。这次疫情期间，她的父亲因病去世。Hong为父亲举办了一场疫情之下的葬礼。

在受邀为地球公场“WUE2020计划”写下的“新加坡疫情记录”里，Hong写下了她在这段时间经历的家庭变故，从她的视角里，我们能看到这次新加坡的疫情状况、政府的应对举措以及公立医院的收治情况，我们能感受到Hong和父亲彼此间的爱，希望我们都能带着爱与希望生活。

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今天要分享的，是来自Hong的疫情记录。Hong用英文写作，为了方便中文读者阅读，我们把她的英文原版文章放在今天第二条推送，下面是“地球公场WUE”翻译的中英对照版。

2020年4月29日（星期三）早晨，我送父亲去海葬，那时的海面很平静。

The sea was calm on a Wednesday morning on 29 April 2020 when I sent my father off in a sea burial.

4月底的新加坡海峡，Hong的父亲就葬在了这里。摄影：Hong

我们在码头坐上由丧礼商安排的船，驶进新加坡海峡（Singapore Strait），大概十分钟后到了外海附近，我的父亲就葬在了这里。

We went on a boat rent by a funeral merchant, and sailed into the Singapore Strait. About ten minutes later, we went to the offshore, and finally my father was sent here.

父亲是在4月28日离我们而去的，享年80岁。我是家中的独生女。父亲离开后，母亲就搬来与我们同住，除了我和我丈夫，还有两个儿子。听家里人说，当年是我的曾祖父带着祖父辈由福建一带移民到新加坡的。

He was 80 years old when he passed away on Tuesday, 28 April 2020. I am an only child. My mother stays with my family, together with my husband, my two sons and myself. They told me that my great-grandfather emigrated to Singapore from Fujian with his children.

一百多年前，Hong的曾祖父带着祖父辈，从福建一带移民到新加坡。图源：OHIA

在疗养院最后一次看到父亲

父亲在半年前就住进了疗养院，因为他在那时患上了老年痴呆症，身体也每况愈下，需要更加细致的照顾。在新加坡，父母住在疗养院的情况不像西方国家那么普遍，如果没有这些特殊原因，我还是希望接父亲在身边由我们自己照顾。

My father was staying in a nursing home as he had been suffering from dementia for at least half a year and his body was gradually weakening as well. He need more caring and support. In Singapore, the situation of parents living in nursing homes is not as common as in Western countries. If he wasn’t ill badly like that, I still hope to take care of my father by ourselves.

我记得在疗养院最后一次看到父亲，是在春节期间，也正是从那个时候开始，新冠病毒从中国境内蔓延到了境外。

I last saw him during Chinese New Year when the COVID epidemic was starting to spread beyond China’s borders.

一月，疫情来临前的新加坡，每晚老巴刹都坐满了吃宵夜的食客。摄影：Ohia

早在今年1月，新加坡的机场就开始对来自中国武汉和湖北省其他城市的旅客进行体温检测。在 1月23日，出现了第一例境外输入的确诊病例。截至1月底，确诊病例增加到了13例，虽然都是输入性病例，但在新加坡依然掀起了一波必需品的抢购潮，口罩也因此卖到断货。

Singapore first started conducting temperate screening at the airports in January 2020 for visitors arriving from certain cities in China, namely Wuhan and Hubei. On 23 January, we had our first confirmed imported case. By end January, we had 13 cases, all imported. There was panic buying and masks ran out of stocks.

劳工宿舍病例爆发后，新加坡掀起了一波必需品抢购潮（主要是大米和厕纸）。图源：Janice

在农历春节后不久，我想再去看看父亲。由于疫情期间疗养院的管控，探访时段设置了限制，但当时的我并不知道，那个周日（1月26日）下午照常前往，结果被拒于门外。

I remembered visiting my father during the Chinese New Year weekend, which was probably 26 Jan, on a Sunday. Not long after that, I tried visiting him at my usual time on a Sunday afternoon but I wasn’t allowed in as the nursing home had restricted visiting to visiting hours only.

出于谨慎考虑，我也没再去探望父亲。这种管控情形一直维持到3月底。从4月1日起，疗养院便暂停接待所有的外来访客。我猜原因可能是，新加坡有一家疗养院里出现了新冠病毒检测结果呈阳性的患者。据当天（1日）晚间的媒体报道，出现了11例聚集性确诊病例，有9人是疗养院的居住民，另外3人是疗养院的雇员和其中一位的家属。

Out of prudence, I had never visited my father since. The situation dragged past March and on 1 Apr, the nursing home stopped permitting visitors. I guessed it was because there was a resident in one of the nursing homes that had tested positive for COVID-19. It is said that there appeared on a new cluster at Lee Ah Mooi Old Age Home with 11 confirmed cases of Covid-19. Among them, nine are residents of the nursing home, while the other two are a staff member who cared for female residents of the nursing home and a family member of the employee.

在发现新的新冠病毒聚集性感染后，各疗养院从4月起暂停外来访客进入。图源：straitstimes.com

那时，我已经两个月没见到父亲了。

By then, I had not been able to see him for about two months.

4月7日正式颁布阻断令

疫情之下，虽然大量的行业受疫情影响，停工停产，但新加坡的日常生活仍然能够得到保障。图源：Reuters

作为新加坡人，我对政府的抗疫举措还是充满信心的。我们日常生活用品没有短缺，价格也比较稳，涨辐不是很大。但是，随着感染人数的不断增长，我不禁开始思考，为何新加坡迟迟未封锁边界。我想，也许是因为这个政策的目的，是最大程度地减少对新加坡经济上的影响，所以针对性地限制一些疫情较为严重的国家或地区往来。新加坡作为国际枢纽，任何限流措施都会对我们造成冲击。

As a Singaporean, I had a certain amount of confidence in the government. Our daily necessities wasn’t in shortage, prices was relatively stable, and the increase wasn’t large. But as the numbers climbed higher, I started wondering why our country had not closed our borders yet. I thought perhaps the strategy was to restrict by country so as to minimise the impact to the economy. As Singapore, being an international hub, any restriction on our borders would have an impact to us.

4月7日，新加坡正式颁布阻断令（Circuit Breaker）。我之前没想明白的疑问终于得到了解答，疑问就是——为何会突然出现了劳工宿舍的疫情感染情况。因为新加坡有大量来自其他国家的外来工作人员，有报道显示，新加坡90%的新冠病毒感染病例都出自劳工宿舍。

On 7 Apr, the circuit measures were announced. I couldn’t figure out why then the numbers from the foreign worker dormitories started to come in. Then I understood why the measures had been implemented. As some reports said, 90% of our country's infections have been among migrant workers living in dormitories because Singapore has a large number of migrant workers from other countries.

报道显示，虽然新加坡在早期控制疫情方面成效显著，但4月以来，病例数量增加，很大程度上和新加坡外来工作人员的住宿条件有关。图源：nhk.or.jp

我意识到，问题可能出在劳工宿舍没有及时实行“社交隔离”，也没有减少或限制大型聚会活动上。更为重要的是，我们也没有足够的口罩可以用，不得不靠着政府发放的限量口罩勉强维持。我觉得这也是疫情加速蔓延的原因之一。

I believe we were not quick enough in implementing social distancing measures at the dormitories and reducing/restricting large social gatherings. On top of that, we didn’t have sufficient masks to go round, we had to rely on the limited government-issued masks instead. Hence, I guessed that was how the spread of infection accelerated.

阻断令颁布后，政府逐渐加强对社交距离的管控。进入超市需要测量体温，商场、电影院关闭；人们开始居家办公、学习，虽然公交地铁照常运营，但是站台上几乎没有人。超市、菜市场限制人流进出，需要登记个人信息。图源：Janice

地铁、公交车上都有标识应避免的站立空间和座位，提醒人们保持安全的社交距离。图源：straitstimes.com

尽管如此，我还是对政府投入的大量资金支持表示感激，因为它照顾到了几乎所有人，不论是新加坡的公民、居民还是外来工作者。其中之一就是，4月政府给每个年满21岁的新加坡公民发600新元（约3000元人民币）的补贴金，以应对阻断令带来的冲击。同时，我相信新加坡政府也在为新冠检测与治疗费用买单。

Still, I was appreciative of the amount of money and support that the government had poured in to support not just its citizens but the residents in Singapore, including the foreign workers. The government had given us (all Singaporeans over 21) S$600 per person in April in an effort to tide us over the circuit breaker measures. I believe it was also quietly covering the cost of the COVID 19 testing as well.

新加坡在5月8日推出了一款机器狗，以提醒公园游客保持社交距离。它的名字为Spot，可以在公园巡逻，做一些类似趴下、蹲下的动作，目前它是远程控制的，但是其开发人员希望它将来能够完全自治。视频来源：Youtube@ CNA

此外，政府为了更好地安置确诊病人，将新加坡世博会展中心（Singapore Expo）改成了隔离病房。而为了避免劳工宿舍集体感染事件再次发生，一些感染后痊愈的外国工人被安排到邮轮上临时居住。

Besides, in order to arrange the confirmed cases, the Singapore World Expo has been converted into isolation wards. Two cruise ships are prepared for foreign workers who've recovered from COVID-19 as to avoid the recurrence of new clusters as before.

图（上）为新加坡世博会展中心改造成的隔离病房，是COVID-19患者的临时住所。图源：Coconuts Singapore

图（下）为政府为外来劳工安排的临时居住场所（邮轮），只有在被评估为健康且不再具有传染性时才被允许登船，船上也要保持安全的社交距离。图源：channelnewsasia.com

“爸爸，我知道你爱我”

4月27日（星期一）上午，我接到了疗养院打来的电话。他们告诉我，父亲出现呼吸道感染的症状，并且血氧水平过低，需要立即把父亲送去新加坡国立大学医院的急症室。事实上，父亲在前一天晚上就开始有呼吸困难的症状，也做了清痰的处理。

On Monday morning, 27 April, with the circuit breaker measures still in place, the nursing home called me to inform me that they will be sending my father to NUH A&E (National University Hospital Accident & Emergency) as he had a respiratory infection and his oxygen level was getting low. They told me that he started having difficulty breathing on Sunday night and they had to remove phlegm from him.

当天下午，医院告知我，他们在用抗生素治疗父亲的呼吸道感染，由于新冠病毒感染的症状之一也是呼吸道感染，为了安全起见，医院为父亲做了新冠病毒的检测，24小时后才能知道检测结果，因此这个时间段内限制我们探视时间。

The hospital called in the afternoon to tell me that they were treating his respiratory infection with antibiotics and gave me the details of his ward and bed. The nurse said he was being tested for COVID 19 but they would not know the results till 24 hours later and visits were only allowed during visiting hours.

工作人员在给社区的路面消毒。图源：Reuters

所幸父亲并没有住进重症病房，我可以晚上去探望他。令我惊讶的是，医院在这个时候还允许非急诊患者的亲友探视。因为此前卫生部曾表示，“所有公立医院、私立医院和社区医院都要尽量减少住院病人的探视，以减少不必要的活动和接触时间。”只有当重症病人、待产的孕妇等特殊情况下，才可以探视。这也是阻断令实施期间的要求。

I thought since he was not in ICU, I would visit him at night, during the visiting hours. I was surprised that they still allowed visitors as I thought hospitals did not permit the visiting of non-urgent cases. "All public hospitals, private hospitals and community hospitals will minimise visitation for inpatients with the intent to reduce non-essential movements and contact time," MOH said. Only patients in certain cases can be visited, such as inpatients who are critically ill. This is also the rules of circuit measures.

新加坡卫生部表示，实行更严格的安全间隔措施，多数在医院接受监护的病人都不能探视。上图为一家综合医院的指示牌。图源：CNA（channelnewsasia）

到了晚上，我在出发探望父亲之前，先打了个电话到医院确认情况。这次的结果居然是，我不能去探望父亲了。理由是，虽然父亲的新冠检测结果呈阴性，但由于仍属于呼吸道感染，为确保安全，需要隔离观察。

Monday night came and I took the precaution of calling the hospital before leaving my home to visit him as I didn’t want to arrive at the hospital only to be turned away even though the hospital happened to be about 15 minutes away from my home. I had a shock when the hospital said I could not visit him. They said he tested negative for COVID but because it was still a respiratory infection, he was kept in an isolation ward and they had to enforce the COVID isolation measures.

然而第二天早晨，我却再次接到了医院的紧急电话，父亲在夜晚病情恶化了，血氧水平依然很低，让我尽快赶往医院。电话里，医院要求一次只能进入2位家属探视，并且不超过20分钟，全程佩戴医用外科口罩。其他家属可以在楼下等待。

The next morning, I received a call from the doctor. She said that my father had deteriorated during the night, the oxygen level was still low and that I should visit him as soon as possible. She said maximum two visitors for 20 minutes at a time and we would need to wear surgical masks because it was the isolation ward. The understanding was that the remaining visitors would wait in the lobby downstairs while waiting for their turn to visit him.

陈列于新加坡国立美术馆的一件艺术作品，讲述了关于“家族”的故事。摄影：Ohia

十多分钟后我赶到了医院。到了病房，其他人在外面等待，我和小儿子先进去，这次终于看到了父亲，可是他躺在病床上，喘着粗气，没办法跟我们说话。看到他竟然瘦了那么多，我既震惊又心疼。他应该没感觉到有人来了，直到我靠近他，对着他耳边说：“爸爸，我来了。我们终于能来看你了。”我甚至不能确定他能否听到，我握住他的手，招招手让儿子靠近点，我甚至觉得父亲感受不到他的孙子来了。

Due to the nationwide circuit breaker measures, all of us had to wearmasks in public areas. Once we managed to get access, I asked my younger son to go up with me first. At the ward, we went into the room to see him. He was gasping for air and he could not talk. I was shocked to see how thin he had become. He was not aware that I was in the room until I moved nearer to him and spoke into his ear. I said, “Daddy, I am here. They finally allowed me to visit you.” I wasn’t even sure if he could hear me. I held his hand and beckoned my son closer. I didn’t think my father could even hear him.

后来我让儿子去叫他外婆过来，在与父亲最后的独处时光里，他不断试图跟我说话，因为他的嘴巴除了喘着粗气，还更加努力地移动着。我告诉父亲我爱他，因为疫情的缘故一次次错过了探视的机会。

I told my son to go downstairs and tell my mother to come up next. In those precious private few minutes with him alone, I could see that my father was trying talk to me as his mouth was moving extra hard in addition to his gasps for air. I told my father that I loved him and I couldn’t visit him any sooner because of the COVID situation. I wasn’t sure if he could understand what I meant.

我不停在解释着，他似乎也可以听懂我的话，不觉松了一口气。我说，“爸爸，我知道你爱我。”他像是喘了最后一口气，我吓到了，急喊到：“爸爸，别吓我，妈妈很快来了！”他突然急喘了口气，这时候我意识到我不得不放下了，爸爸可能等不到妈妈了。不知道怎么就说出，“没关系，爸爸，安心去吧。”话音一落，他的呼吸就停止了。

He was still gasping for air but I sensed an understanding from him as he seemed to breathe a bit easier. Then I said, “Daddy, I know you love me.” On these words, he seemed to breathe his last. I said, “Daddy, don’t scare me! Mummy will be coming up soon!” He suddenly gasped another breath of air. Then I knew. I knew it was time to let him go. He was too weak to hang on any longer to wait for my mother to arrive. I said to my father, “It’s ok. You can go be with the Lord now.” And just like that, there was no more breaths.

我忽然泪流不止。爸爸希望我知道的所有一切不过是他爱我。我感到非常无助，这一刻，世上少了一个爱我的人。迷茫的我不知道，少了父亲的爱是怎么样的呢？

My tears started rolling faster and faster. All my father wanted me to know was that he loved me before he left this world in peace. I felt very alone at that point in time. I had one less person in this world that loved me. I felt lost. What was it like not having my father there to love me anymore?

新加坡的国家传染病中心。图源：TODAY online

父亲去后的那几个小时，我整个人变得恍惚不清。我安排了父亲的后事，相关程序开始进行。因为父亲是天主教徒，一般情况会守灵三天，但在疫情下，我决定不举行守灵仪式。一方面，因为父亲年岁已高，亲戚朋友也已经不多。另一方面，由于阻断令，丧礼最多只能允许同时十个人在场，还必须测量体温，记录联系方式，我也有心无力。

The next few hours passed in a blur. Once I decided on the undertaker, everything else moved very fast after that. I decided not to have a wake because my dad was already rather advanced in his age, there were not many friends or relatives that could attend his wake. Also, the circuit breaker measures only allowed for a maximum of ten people each time at the wake. I didn’t think I could handle “crowd control”, handling the temperature taking, collecting of contact details, who could go to the wake and who had to wait outside.

对我而言，关心他、爱他的人在他活着的时候见上一面就足够了。人在的时候能珍惜在一起的时光，活着时候的关心和爱远比死后的仪式更重要。于是，父亲去世的当天，在牧师与亲属的陪同下，我们举行了简单的告别仪式。

To me, the people who cared about him, already saw him when he was alive. What matters is how we treat the people when they are with us, not when they are gone. So my father was cremated on the same day he died because I opted for a quick and simple service. It was a simple service conducted by his pastor with the close relatives. Just ten people as the law dictated.

虽然Hong的父亲离开了，但父亲的爱永远像一棵大树一样，给人带来温暖和希望。摄影：Ohia

第二天，就在那个平静的星期三早晨，我们坐上了船，把父亲的骨灰带向了大海。我也向父亲做了最后的告别。我爱你，爸爸。

On a calm Wednesday morning, the next day, we took his bones out to sea and I said my final farewell to my father. I love you, Dad.

——END——

Hong，出生于新加坡，并在这里生活了四十多年。当年，她的曾祖父带着祖父辈由福建一带移民到新加坡。

文中记录代表作者个人观点。更多内容可参看WUE2020计划往期目录。

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