Letters | Hong Kong must stop ‘lying flat’ on shaking off Covid-19 restrictions

Readers discuss the persistence of pandemic control measures in Hong Kong, and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra’s recent visit to the city

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Rugby fans cheer during the 2019 Hong Kong Sevens rugby tournament. This year, Sevens fans will have more rules to follow. Photo: AP

Published: 11:30am, 31 Oct 2022

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A socially distanced rugby Sevens with vaccine mandates, testing mandates and mask mandates. What fun!

Even more fun: there will be marshals patrolling the crowd to make sure everyone is properly distanced and masked after taking a bite of whatever food they are allowed to eat.

I can’t imagine anything less fun, less like the traditional rowdy spirit of the Sevens, less like something to visit Hong Kong for. It’s as if we don’t know anything about Covid-19, but we do.

During the Australian football season just completed, millions of fans crowded football arenas around the country. The Covid-19 numbers for that period don’t show any negative impact of this free approach. During the peak football season, case numbers, hospitalisations and Covid-19 deaths were on a steady decline.

Even after the most heavily attended games – the finals in late September – there was no discernible jump in case numbers. Why do we keep acting as if there’s no experience anywhere else in the world to learn from?