Mouthing OffDon’t let coronavirus fear ruin our restaurant scene. Eat out more and stop being pathetic, Hongkongers

Andrew Sun calls on Hong Kong people to stop hibernating at home eating instant noodles and go out and support the city’s suffering restaurants

Locals have even given up their favourite cold weather communal hotpots after a family was infected by a diner who had arrived from mainland China

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A couple with masks at a restaurant in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong, amid the coronavirus outbreak. Photo: Martin Chan

Published: 4:30pm, 19 Feb 2020Updated: 6:30pm, 20 Feb 2020

A new flu strain is nothing to sneeze at (sorry about the pun), but I haven’t been as terrified of the coronavirus outbreak as most people. In fact, I think there’s been a crazy amount of overreacting. If and when the apocalypse occurs, I am quite sure rice and toilet paper won’t be the currencies for man’s survival.

The run on face masks is also excessive, since other forms of hygiene, including the simple act of rigorously and routinely washing our hands, will do more to prevent the spread of any infection.

Of course, we should all take precautions, but I prefer informed rational thinking over mass paranoia. If I’m in a crowded subway train, then naturally it makes sense to wear a mask and protect myself from others’ coughs and spittle. But if I’m outside without a lot of people around, being unmasked is not going to expose me to anything worse than bus fumes and flatulence.

Lately, fear of the coronavirus has stopped most people in Hong Kong going anywhere, including eating at restaurants. All those posh establishments where you had trouble making a booking are now available for walk-in business, even on weekends.

People wearing protective masks ordering food at a restaurant in Kwun Tong. Photo: Sun Yeung

Since the anti-extradition protests last summer, food and beverage outlets have been hit harder than Conor McGregor’s opponents. Hong Kong people, who were once so proud of their city’s status as the one where people ate out more than any other, now hibernate like hermits sustaining themselves on instant noodles and canned meats. How pathetic have we become?

Where is that can-do spirit of venturing out to unlicensed hawkers and eating dodgy offal and stinky tofu from a sweaty vendor with a cigarette dangling off his lip? In the past, if you felt a little unwell, your grandma just gave you a little vial of Po Chai Pills and suggested you take a short nap. In a couple of hours you were back at it, ordering dinner at a dai pai dong.