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Letters | Be coronavirus soldiers, Hong Kong: mask up and march on
- Infected but asymptomatic people may pass on the virus, and mask wearing heightens community vigilance. Asking people to forgo masks is plain wrong
- If leaders cannot be wise, at least they should be honest
Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
As Hong Kong struggles to contain the coronavirus outbreak, I’m reminded of an episode from the NBC TV series, The West Wing. With the US facing a possible mad cow disease outbreak in the beef industry and top officials debating whether to make it public, fictional press secretary C. J. Cregg tells the US president: “In a crisis, people need to feel like soldiers, not victims.”
If only we could have such a sage and intrepid press secretary. If only our leader could be humble and wise enough to listen.
Whether infected or not, we are all suffering the effects of the coronavirus epidemic, but we don’t want to be victims. We want to be soldiers. Hongkongers can be tough fighters, all they need is leadership and solidarity.
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The government needs to show us a way to fight, and stop saying that everything is under control. If leaders cannot be wise, at least they should be honest.
When Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said she asked senior officials not to wear face masks unless they were taken ill, many health experts were flabbergasted. She might want to save face masks for those who needed them most – frontline health workers. But to play down the importance of people wearing masks is stupid and wrong.
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