Feel strongly about these letters, or any other aspects of the news? Share your views by emailing us your Letter to the Editor at letters@scmp.com or filling in this Google form . Submissions should not exceed 400 words, and must include your full name and address, plus a phone number for verification. The fifth wave of the pandemic has laid bare some harsh realities for Hong Kong society. Deep rifts between different groups, lack of proper infrastructure and inadequate social care – Omicron has unveiled just how vulnerable we really are. For decades, people have lived in cramped flats in public housing estates, multiple generations living together in one tiny space. A social setting like this not only makes home isolation unfeasible, but also makes remote working – which is now the norm for most office workers – difficult, if not impossible. A number of public housing estates have seen severe outbreaks , which can be safely attributed to building design and utility infrastructure. For the middle-income portion of the population, private housing estates are hardly any better. Meanwhile, our public health care system quickly became overwhelmed as soon as daily case numbers rose above 1,000. Clusters of patients – particularly the elderly – waiting outside hospitals was something I never expected to see in a world-class city like Hong Kong. Obviously, the health care workers – no matter how selfless and valiant they’ve been – are stretched to their limits . All this raises a serious question about what could have been done in the last couple of years to prepare the city for a crisis of this magnitude, given that we had the luxury of being largely Covid-free. Our supply chain has come under tremendous stress, the effects of which are being felt first-hand by ordinary people thanks to skyrocketing prices and a severe shortage of fresh vegetables and fruit. When our truck drivers caught the virus, where was the “plan B”? As one of the world’s busiest international trading, transport and logistics hubs, Hong Kong has no excuse to not have a contingency plan. Have we simply neglected this out of complacency? Last year, Hong Kong ranked second on a list of urban centres with the highest number of billionaires. It is very disheartening to see those tycoons not coming out strongly to help the community until they were “pushed” by the liaison office. Beyond the lack of coordination or preparedness, more worrying has been the erosion of empathy. During a crisis like this, how can anyone in their right mind throw out a domestic helper for testing Covid-positive, leaving her to sit helplessly in a park in this cold weather? Do we even realise how critical domestic helpers are to the city’s economy and people’s jobs? We can only survive this public health crisis through compassion and camaraderie – we need to be there for each other. Hatred, blame games or discrimination will not help. Hong Kong emerged stronger from Sars and every other crisis it has experienced in the past. I believe we can do the same with Covid-19. As we cling to hope, residents, businesses, doctors and the government must work together and find “outside the box” solutions. New ideas and bold initiatives are what we need now. The sooner we understand this, the faster Hong Kong will recover. Munira Rahman, Tung Chung Hospitals must not reject help from the mainland As the city battles the fifth wave of Covid-19 infections, the central government has sent teams of health professionals to support contact tracing efforts and enhance testing capabilities. But with public hospitals overwhelmed by the surging number of Covid-19 cases, Hong Kong’s health care workers may also need reinforcement from their colleagues on the mainland to take care of patients. In July 2020, when the city was facing its third wave of infections, the Association of Hong Kong Nursing Staff wrote to the chief executive to express reservations about such a move. It urged the government to ensure that all nurses practising in the city were licensed in accordance with local laws and regulations. In January 2021, the US Department of Health and Human Services gave health care providers with state-issued licences the authorisation to administer Covid-19 vaccines in any other US state, to quickly expand the workforce. At the end of January, 26 US states were also offering temporary emergency licences allowing medical doctors from other states to practice there during the Covid-19 state of emergency. I urge the Carrie Lam administration to introduce similar legislation to temporarily authorise mainland health care workers to practice in Hong Kong. In the interest of public health and for the well-being of its members, the Association of Hong Kong Nursing Staff should welcome and support medical teams from the mainland when such reinforcement becomes necessary. Simon Wang, Kowloon Tong Government delays increase length of home quarantine I wish to point out the inequities caused by the government’s inefficient management of its 14-day home quarantine arrangement . A member of my family took a Covid-19 test at a hospital emergency department on February 11. To be socially responsible, the family member in question, my helper and I have been conscientiously self-isolating at home ever since. There were delays in delivering the test results to my family member (four days) and the electronic wristbands to me and my helper (six days). On February 20, we received a quarantine order which disregards the 10 days of self-isolation already completed and requires us to self-isolate for a further 14 days. Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has asked for our cooperation. We have done our best, but are still being penalised. Monita Leung, Wan Chai Universal testing not the solution to Omicron crisis Are we fighting a losing battle against Covid-19? We have been trying to beat this virus for two years straight. However, it always gets the upper hand simply by mutating. It’s all over the world now. The Hong Kong authorities are now planning universal testing, with some health care experts strongly pushing for it. I doubt universal testing is the way out. Universal testing and lockdowns are commonplace on the mainland. But the virus is still stubbornly there . Repeated testing will only tire people out, especially the elderly. Presently, healthy Hongkongers returning from all places outside China are quarantined for two weeks. Meanwhile, last week there was a report of elderly who tested positive being sent back from hospitals to care homes. Some care homes have refused to take back patients discharged from hospital. We should take the opportunity provided by Omicron to rethink our “dynamic zero policy”. What the government needs to do is to keep encouraging people to get vaccinated and return Hong Kong to normality. Hopefully, our present policy isn’t swayed by “politics in command”. Ringo Yee, Tuen Mun