Hong Kong is testing public patience with even stricter Covid-19 rules
- I, like most Hongkongers, have dutifully been vaccinated, lined up for testing, and followed social distancing rules, no matter how confusing
- Compliance has been rewarded with ever stricter measures. How much longer can the government expect us to cooperate?
As far as model citizens go in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, I believe I have done a first-rate job. With the announcement of each vaccine roll-out, I have promptly got a jab. When I was recently notified there were cases in the building I live in, I was among the first in line for a test the following morning. If I’m asked to scan the QR code on my Leave Home Safe app or show my vaccination record, I have no qualms.
Still, as rules requiring proof of vaccination to shop and eat out take effect, nothing has changed when it comes to quarantining and travel. Regardless of whether we have symptoms, a positive test result means in-person isolation from others for weeks.
Honesty about testing positive leads to spending weeks away from loved ones, friends and work colleagues. Those we know or interact with have their lives disrupted or are inconvenienced. Even if we do not have symptoms, we will be treated as if we have a deadly disease.
At what point will that policy change? Our vaccination rate for those who have had two jabs is already over 75 per cent, not counting children aged 3 to 11 who have only recently become eligible. Countries that have higher levels have found vaccination alone doesn’t stop the spread of Omicron. By the time tweaked vaccines are available, new variants may be rampaging.
3 scenarios of how the pandemic will end in Hong Kong
Diseases are brought under control through vaccination, natural infection and behaviour changes like mask-wearing and improved hygiene. Outbreaks are managed with testing, tracing and treatment of severe cases. Hong Kong has gone far beyond that, yet still acts as if that isn’t enough for life to return to normal.
So, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and others in the administration directing our anti-Covid-19 strategy: when am I, and all the others like me who have been faithfully following what you order – even when it’s confusing – going to be rewarded for being so loyal? What is that reward going to be? Two years is more than enough time for you to figure it out. Life is, after all, short.
Peter Kammerer is a senior writer at the Post