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Coronavirus Hong Kong
OpinionLetters

Letters | As Hong Kong fights Covid-19, volunteers can play a crucial role

  • Readers discuss adding volunteers to Hong Kong’s pandemic effort, the need for responsive policy, discontent with the city’s leadership, and why hair salons should be reopened

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People queue for tickets for Covid-19 tests at the Tin Shui Sports Centre on February 11. Photo: K.Y. Cheng
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The government has shown incompetence in planning for community-wide testing and coordinating care for Covid-positive people. In addition to leveraging the city’s private doctors to administer more vaccines, the government can tap into a part-time and volunteer workforce for contact tracing and community response measures to make self-isolation a safer and more bearable experience.

The government has created part-time positions recruiting people from the tourism industry to assist at community vaccination centres. It is also seeking to recruit students from tertiary institutions with a medical background to assist in collecting samples. Some legislative and district council members have self-initiated mask drives.

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However, we must allocate more people and resources to support those in isolation. Self-isolation is distressing for anyone, let alone those with chronic illnesses who can no longer receive their treatment regimen or for carers who must resume their caretaking role when their elderly family members are unable to receive care from other sources in the day.

Given that callers are failing to get satisfactory responses from the Home Affairs Bureau’s 24-hour hotline, the government ought to take a stronger lead in developing targeted opportunities for society to fill in the gaps.

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Take the United States for instance. Some states have partnered with contact tracers outside their civil service workforce. They coordinate care with physicians and local resources to help those with Covid-19, including identifying food insecurities, access to medical care and close contacts.

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