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 government’s policy priority has been to open up to the mainland first before opening up to the rest of the world. Despite the announcement of lifted flight bans, a streamlined flight suspension mechanism and eased quarantine requirements, arrivals remain mostly limited to local residents. Here are three reasons for not waiting to open up to the mainland, and for Hong Kong to open up to the rest of the world first. One, herd immunity on the mainland is weak and it will take time for the population to exit “zero Covid”. China is not yet ready to treat Covid-19 as endemic. Low vaccination rates, especially among the elderly, its reliance on inactivated vaccines which are less effective against the Omicron and Delta variants, and limited natural immunity from exposure to Covid-19 mean that the mainland will need to progress slowly to keep death rates under control and avoid overwhelming its healthcare facilities. Thus, with much-improved levels of immunity, Hong Kong can move ahead and open up sooner to the world than the mainland. Two, there is no national mechanism for opening up to the mainland. It will require negotiation with individual provinces and cities. Not only do they see us as economic competitors, the leaders of these jurisdictions have been put on notice with the recent news of mayors who lost their jobs after unacceptable increases in Covid-19 numbers on their watch. This is very different for Hong Kong. By contrast, opening up to most destinations around the world only requires simple unilateral decisions. Of course, we will need our local leaders to speak up for our local interests and seek understanding from Beijing of the benefits of Hong Kong opening up to the world first. Hong Kong could be the canary in the coal mine, a test case of opening up for the country as a whole. The third reason is the well-being of both the local and national economy. Everyone – people, companies and the government at all levels – needs for the economy to be running smoothly again. Every day we wait, more people and businesses will give up. Every day we go on waiting, it will be harder to restart our economy and for Hong Kong to find its mojo again and contribute to the economic success of China as a whole. Paul Zimmerman, vice-chairman, Southern District Council Give parents peace of mind by setting clear policies We urge the government to provide figures of how many children in Hong Kong have been separated from their primary caregivers during hospitalisation since the fifth wave of Covid-19 hit our city more than two months ago. Even though the Hospital Authority on February 25 clarified isolation arrangements for coronavirus-positive children in public hospitals, discretion is inconsistently applied across different hospitals. Parents do not know what to expect and therefore are continuing to make decisions based on fear of separation from their children, rather than medical needs. Paediatricians, nurses, psychologists and child rights advocates have repeatedly warned that hospitalisation and isolation are traumatic for children. Studies of children who underwent isolation or quarantine in previous pandemics found that up to 30 per cent met the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder. Such traumatic childhood experiences significantly increase the risk of lifelong health and functioning problems. We call on policymakers and health administrators to take into account the mental well-being of children, not just their medical needs, in all actions related to pandemic control. Policymakers should consider children and their primary caregivers as a unit. Having parents and primary caregivers at the child’s bedside supports their well-being. It would also help alleviate the pressure on medical professionals. Hong Kong needs clear guidelines on isolation arrangements that are medically sound and also protect the rights and interests of children, so families need not gamble on whether a hospital is using a different approach. Billy Wong, Hong Kong Committee on Children’s Rights Hong Kong’s Omicron predicament in one frame The Harry’s View cartoon on March 25 (“Still negative, folks”) brilliantly captures Hong Kong’s Omicron predicament of being caught between the rock of international tolerance and the hard place of China’s intransigent “dynamic zero” approach. Given your front-page article on the same day, “Hong Kong sticks to plan while Singapore relaxes its grip”, perhaps Harry could even have enhanced his message by adding Singapore’s emblematic Merlion in the background proudly displaying a similar rapid antigen test indicating a positive “ living with it ” result. Roger Emmerton, Wan Chai What more can airlines do? After defending the mechanism which bans airlines that bring in more than a designated number of coronavirus-positive passengers from flying that route for 14 days, our chief executive has announced a “streamlining” of the process. Her statement puts on display the bizarre thinking in today’s government: “Since we have this expectation and requirement of the airlines, we need to put in some penalty. If they fail to fulfil these requirements, and bring a certain number of infected passengers into Hong Kong, then we will have to take some punitive action so that they will do better.” What does she mean by “do better”? What additional steps should Cathay Pacific and other world-class airlines be taking to avoid this penalty? Does she believe that they are not already doing everything possible to prevent punitive action? Even more strange is how she cannot grasp how this rule impacts all the people booked on that route for the next seven days. Unless they somehow manage to find an alternative flight by a non-banned airline on the same day, their entire travel schedule including a quarantine hotel booking is now a mess. Is this really the best “Asia’s world city” can do? Bob Rogers, Sai Kung