Letters | Fear won’t beat Omicron and future Covid waves. Hong Kong needs a better approach
- Readers discuss a less stressful approach to the pandemic and the usefulness of rapid testing
Clear, community-wide communication that gives timely, data-based information is essential for citizens to know what to expect and how to act. For example, it can tell them which symptoms to pay attention to.
The Department of Health’s Centre for Health Protection site was last updated almost one year ago, and key information is out of date, with the emergence of the dominant Omicron variant. Experience has shown that awareness of symptoms, self-testing and home isolation is an effective way to address Omicron and causes less stress in society.
If people are not able to isolate at home and illness becomes more severe, they must know what steps to take with regard to the authorities without feeling trepidation. The seemingly unpalatable reality is that Omicron is too agile to be eradicated by lockdowns, so the government should stop concentrating on the number of infections and instead focus on the severity of outcomes.
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Police in Shanghai scuffle with residents over Covid-19 quarantine measures