Letters | Hong Kong’s defensive Covid-19 strategies aren’t working

Readers call on authorities to come up with a Covid-19 exit strategy, decry the culling of hamsters, propose a new feature for the government’s eHealth app, and suggest ideas for encouraging civic engagement

Coronavirus pandemic

Letters

Published: 7:30am, 24 Jan 2022

Why you can trust SCMP

Two years into the pandemic, we are back to square one in Hong Kong, with draconian rules to curb an infection triggered by a human mistake, not to mention the toughest quarantine rules in the world.

While it’s understandable that the government is keen to stamp out infection and reopen the border with the mainland – although this doesn’t seem likely to happen this year – the steps it has taken are difficult to understand.

The vaccination rate among the elderly is a major issue. Almost a year after Hong Kong’s vaccination programme began, only about 70 per cent of the population is fully vaccinated. With a rate of less than 30 per cent among those aged over 80, the city’s elderly were left vulnerable during the Omicron outbreak.

Our defensive strategies aren’t working. We need to go on the attack instead. Our exit strategy should include a vaccine mandate for high-risk groups and home quarantine for asymptomatic cases. It is not scientifically justifiable to hospitalise a vaccinated asymptomatic person for three to four weeks.

Curfews and lockdowns are measures of the past; we now have reliable vaccines and medication, and Omicron is a weaker variant. This is substantiated by the incredibly low mortality rate in Hong Kong. Let’s use these tools, as we are lucky enough to have them in abundance.

We are back to square one but this time with disputable logic. Everyone is being punished indiscriminately, even the sectors that diligently rushed to vaccinate their staff as early as they could, while we still allow the elderly to regularly go out for breakfast or lunch with no limitations or vaccine requirements. No doubt we will also allow Lunar New Year lunch gatherings to go ahead without any vaccine bubble, increasing the chances of another outbreak exponentially.

Closures and isolation are easy cards to play. I wish Hong Kong experts would share their knowledge so we can return to normal life, instead of living in fear of being sent with our families to a quarantine camp or being threatened with school closures. For the over 1 million people from the mainland living in Hong Kong, this will be the third Lunar New Year spent apart from their families, despite being just a few kilometres away. How much longer must they wait?

The solution to ending the pandemic does not necessarily lie in Europe or the US, but thanks to vaccination, the mortality rate has fallen in those places too.

We did all the government asked us to do: masks, vaccines, quarantine, isolation, washing hands, using a contract tracing app, social distancing. Now it’s time for the government to work on an exit strategy, or the current status quo could simply persist forever.

Marco Galimberti, Happy Valley

After culling hamsters, what next?

Many Hongkongers have had enough of the government’s nonsensical anti-Covid policies, which have succeeded in shutting Hong Kong off from both the mainland and the rest of the world.

And now, the mass extermination of pets – based on what? When will this madness end?

These policies and their proponents only increase disrespect for the government.

Kay Fung, Central

Link eHealth app to health care review sites

Referring to the letter, “Make it easy on app to collect patient feedback” (December 14), we agree that it would be convenient if the public was able to leave feedback on the government’s eHealth app. Indeed, the government can make use of existing commercial platforms that allow patients to evaluate doctors in Hong Kong.

On one such website, GoodDoctor, users can find the names and contact details of many private doctors in Hong Kong. Patients can rate the doctors’ efficacy, attitude, knowledge and costs and leave comments. That said, it is not clear how the website authenticates the reviewers’ identities as real patients. Only positive comments appear on the platform, probably because of the legal risks of defamation.

The Food and Health Bureau should collaborate with such websites and allow users to log in to these platforms using the eHealth app. App users can then give positive feedback on doctors’ services publicly on these websites and lodge complaints to the Hospital Authority privately.

Rui Zang and Simon Wang, Kowloon Tong

Big Waster shows social media can boost civic engagement

The rise of social media has given the Hong Kong government a new platform for encouraging civic engagement. The Environmental Protection Department’s Big Waster social media campaign, which aims to inspire people to reduce food waste, is an illustrative example.

The brown “Big Waster” character, with eyes that are bigger than its stomach, made its debut in May 2013, reminding people to “use less, waste less” and stop piling more food than they can eat into their shop carts and onto their plates. The mascot’s Facebook page has over 75,000 followers.

The Big Waster mascot makes an appearance at the Yau Ma Tei Festival on December 16, 2018. Photo: Jonathan Wong

The success of the campaign hinges on not adhering to the conventional style of government propaganda. The Big Waster appears in a range of texts, photo and video formats on social media that can be easily shared.

People from all walks of life can also express their views on environmental affairs through these low-profile channels, rather than speaking out in public. Apart from commenting on social media posts, they can use likes and emojis, upload photos and join polls. Government representatives can respond to users’ queries, requests and complaints through timely feedback, comments and actions.

Such engagement makes people feel that their views are valued and are even helping to shape future campaigns, which would increase their willingness to take part. The Big Waster campaign is a clear example of an effective civic engagement strategy.

Adrian Lam, Tai Koo