Speaking at an online forum on the issue of migrant workers during the Covid-19 pandemic, SMU Associate Professor of Law Eugene Tan called the “constant references” to two different outbreaks worrying, as it perpetuates the mindset that “as long as the Singaporean community is safe, it doesn’t really matter what happens in the dorms”. He added that the government has an “important signalling role” to play in shifting the mindset away from focusing on the “economic value” of such foreign workers. SMU Dean of Students and Professor of Sociology (Practice) Paulin Straughan said that while Singaporeans are “acutely aware” of the difficult living conditions of foreign workers here, they express concerns for their security when these workers move into the same neighbourhood.