Letters | To contain the coronavirus and protect the economy, increase quarantine days for high-risk arrivals
- Given that people can test positive for the virus after 14 days, arrivals from high-risk locations should undergo a 21-day quarantine and be tested again after 28 days. This would be cheaper than requiring restaurants to operate at 50 per cent capacity
However, while these moves can control the spread of the virus, they are not adequate to eliminate it completely. Even mandatory testing for the whole city can only serve as a good starting point. This is because under the current system, we are allowing people even from high-risk areas to enter Hong Kong every day, bringing in new cases. Potential Covid-19 patients among them will be released after a 14-day quarantine period.
However, recent research has showed quite conclusively that some people still test positive after 14 days. In some cases, it might be possible that the viral load is too low at the time of the deep-throat saliva test to generate a positive result. On the other hand, the viral load might be just strong enough to infect other people, who after a certain incubation period might even become superspreaders.
An obvious solution is to extend the quarantine period for those from high-risk areas to 21 days. This is certainly a feasible measure under the present conditions, as the number of Covid-19 cases has been around 10 per day in recent weeks. Accordingly, there should be enough facilities for those requiring quarantine.
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As an additional precautionary measure, these arrivals should remain contactable, and pass a mandatory virus check after 28 days. A cheaper alternative is to retain the 14-day quarantine period, but to keep track of the arrivals and test them again after 21 and then 28 days.