A man and child wait at a temporary treatment area outside a hospital on February 18. Since the start of the pandemic, Hong Kong has maintained a policy of isolating and hospitalising all positive cases, regardless of age, leading to fears of family separation. Photo: AP
A man and child wait at a temporary treatment area outside a hospital on February 18. Since the start of the pandemic, Hong Kong has maintained a policy of isolating and hospitalising all positive cases, regardless of age, leading to fears of family separation. Photo: AP
Maxine Cheung
Opinion

Opinion

Maxine Cheung and Odile Thiang

Separating children with Covid-19 from parents is neither safe nor necessary to curb infection

  • Isolating infected children puts medical well-being before mental health, ignores the long-term trauma of separation and deters families from seeking treatment in the first place
  • Hospitals must treat parents and guardians as essential care providers and offer rapid testing to enable them to stay with children

Maxine CheungOdile Thiang
Maxine Cheung and Odile Thiang

Updated: 3:30am, 4 Mar, 2022

Why you can trust SCMP
A man and child wait at a temporary treatment area outside a hospital on February 18. Since the start of the pandemic, Hong Kong has maintained a policy of isolating and hospitalising all positive cases, regardless of age, leading to fears of family separation. Photo: AP
A man and child wait at a temporary treatment area outside a hospital on February 18. Since the start of the pandemic, Hong Kong has maintained a policy of isolating and hospitalising all positive cases, regardless of age, leading to fears of family separation. Photo: AP
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