The latest fitness centre shutdowns, work-from-home arrangements and self-imposed isolation have added 5.5kg to my weight. To say I’m frustrated only scratches the surface of my emotions; for too long I’ve been paranoid about what I can and can’t do and pessimism abounds with the roadmap for relaxing Covid-19 restrictions announced by Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor.
This is, after all, a government that has fumbled and flip-flopped its way through the more than two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, with disastrous results for the livelihoods of many businesses and people. Removing the ban on flights from nine countries, lowering the hotel quarantine period to seven days, letting restaurants stay open longer and gyms and the like reopen largely rolls back the clock to the early days of the fifth wave of the virus in January.
Our health and well-being are apparently what this is all about. But for me and a number of others I know, the rules have had the opposite effect. As a result of doing as the authorities have advised and staying at home as much as possible, I have added kilograms, developed lower back pain and had swollen feet and ankles. This is what I presume life would be like under a lockdown for city-wide testing, which Lam has thankfully suspended.
Walking the 20 paces from my desk to the front door and back numerous times a day is no compensation for going to the gym for an hour four or five times a week. Even once restrictions are lifted, it won’t be possible anyway; my gym, Fitness First, has closed permanently due to lost business caused by months of rules contending that people exercising in proximity can easily spread the virus.
04:34
Hong Kong gyms struggle to stay afloat as Fitness First chain quits city over Covid closure
Hong Kong gyms struggle to stay afloat as Fitness First chain quits city over Covid closure
Science should be guiding the Covid-19 battle. Everyone in the health and fitness industries know that regular exercise is necessary for a healthy body and mind. I learned in high school five decades ago that keeping active is necessary to maintain and strengthen the body’s immune system to fight illness.
Preventing or restricting that from happening through gym closures, shutting down sporting facilities, stopping people from swimming and limiting the ability to do even moderate exercise by requiring mask-wearing in public is surely counterproductive.
This long into the pandemic, I would have thought the authorities would have worked out a strategy and direction. But they are still fumbling, even though governments beyond China seem to have worked it out by now.
More governments are dropping restrictions altogether. They know Omicron is not a serious variant for the vaccinated and are prepared for the next strain that comes along, which is not a matter of if, but when. Staying locked down in preparation for that time does not make sense.
06:21
‘Stealth Omicron’: How dangerous is the pandemic’s new highly infectious strain of Covid-19?
‘Stealth Omicron’: How dangerous is the pandemic’s new highly infectious strain of Covid-19?
That realisation is why, I, and it would seem increasing numbers of others, have been taking to the streets again. I am still following the rules, even though many have no apparent use. The “Leave Home Safe” app was overwhelmed by cases long ago, while checking vaccination records is of little use when so many people are infected and show no symptoms.
I faithfully walk with only one other person in public, even though I know that families can move about freely in whatever numbers they desire. Beaches reopened and were then forced closed, hair salons shut and were then allowed to resume business. None of this makes sense, but rules are rules and there are penalties for not following them if caught, so I do as I am told.
But, at the end of it all, the government’s Covid-19 strategy has become farcical. People’s livelihoods have been destroyed. Fitness First is an international company and has had enough, but what about all those closed and forever-shuttered shops in Tsim Sha Tsui, Causeway Bay and elsewhere across the city?
07:29
Why has Hong Kong been hit so hard by the Covid-19 fifth wave?
Why has Hong Kong been hit so hard by the Covid-19 fifth wave?
The tourism industry is in tatters and perhaps will never recover. So much talent has left for good and can’t be lured back. My extra kilos are nothing compared to all the damage that has been, and continues to be, done.
I suspect at the root of the reluctance, or even refusal, to change tack, is saving face. Admitting that policies are flawed or wrong is not in the Hong Kong government’s psyche. Lam is certainly not known for humility. But until there is an acceptance of reality, Hong Kong and its people will continue to suffer.
