Singapore’s half-open nightclubs signal a sad, weird new normal

Woe is the dance floor

TO grasp the challenges and quirks of Singapore's reopening, consider the case of the country's nightclub scene.

Clubs were allowed to reopen last month. A few opted to remain shut. Others welcomed guests, but (bizarrely) offered no dance floor. Some, like Zouk, one of the country's largest, reopened, only to be shut temporarily by the authorities days later for flouting "intermingling" rules among club-goers.

It's just the latest verse of a familiar tune for businesses in Singapore that have dealt with often strict and convoluted rules throughout the pandemic. Before dancing, for example, revelers must get a rapid test and show their vaccination status. And, if you want to get your boogie on, a mask is a must-wear accessory.

Still, for a country that has vowed not to do away with all Covid restrictions in one go, Singapore has cast off many pandemic rules within a short timespan. Gone are tests required for travelers, limits on group sizes and tape marking how far apart people should stand or sit in public.

But even as Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has talked about how all this is bringing Singapore "almost all the way to how things were before Covid-19", there are undercurrents of nervousness amid the relief.

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Masks aren't just on the dance floor. Though they are optional outdoors (and science suggests the virus is unlikely to transmit in outdoor spaces), many still choose to wear them outside. Some are still deferring travel due to worries about catching the virus. A recent uptick in cases amid a global surge of Omicron prompted the health minister to reassure citizens that they had nothing to worry about it.

For now, most are embracing the party of reopening, with bars and restaurants filling up. Authorities, too, have committed to keeping borders open, regardless of a new variant. It's a race now to reap the economic benefits, with Indonesia the latest neighbor to follow Singapore's lead. In a sign of how priorities have shifted, officials are now appealing for firms to hire over 5,000 workers in pandemic-related roles who may soon lose their jobs as the crisis eases.

Still, with another wave almost inevitable, fears of backtracking are never too far away. BLOOMBERG