Covid-19 has evolved, so why hasn’t Hong Kong’s virus strategy?

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor should announce as soon as possible that she has no plans for the city to open up to the world, no plans for students of all ages to return to school or playgrounds, and no plans to shorten quarantine arrangements.

Yes, I’m serious, given how recent attempts by the administration to straighten out misinformation have ended with it essentially eating its words.

On January 3, the government condemned those it said were spreading “rumours” that it was planning to stop people dining in restaurants after 6pm and putting the city under lockdown. It clarified that it had “absolutely no plan” to do so.

Two days later, the government announced it was halting dining in restaurants after 6pm after all, and also shutting down 15 types of premises: in other words, businesses and livelihoods across the service sector.

Next, following comments on how school closures would have an adverse impact on children’s physical and emotional well-being, the government made another about-turn and closed primary schools and kindergartens – sending educators and parents straight back to Zoom hell.

From then on, it was really just a matter of time before secondary schools would be closed too, and yet the chief executive still spoke about older students’ ability to take better care of themselves. Well, lo and behold, secondary schools are shut.

Given how badly 2022 is going so far for Lam and, worse, for the rest of Hong Kong, our safest bet now would be if she made all the pronouncements I have suggested, and then hope that the opposite will come true.

By now, it should be quite clear that we are losing the race against the Omicron variant of Covid-19.

Lam has rightfully praised the public’s “willingness” to comply with government-imposed measures like “restriction-testing declarations”, compulsory testing notices and 21-day quarantine. I hope that she knows this “willingness” is really more akin to despair.

How zero-Covid Hong Kong can re-emerge as Asia’s world city

The Omicron variant has shown us how quickly it can outrun the city’s anti-pandemic measures. A growing cluster in the community linked to cross-infection at the Silka Seaview Hotel in Yau Ma Tei suggests that the variant has poked a hole in our hotel quarantine system, rendering these harsh and mentally taxing, if once effective, isolation measures rather futile.

Omicron may also have made it unsafe to wear only one surgical mask, according to Covid-19 expert and microbiology professor Yuen Kwok-yung. Instead, he has advised citizens to consider wearing two masks at the same time to keep the variant at bay.

Meanwhile, despite superspreader fears around public housing blocks in Kwai Chung, it is quite clear that we simply do not have the capacity to send more than 2,500 residents to quarantine.

This is not to say that all our efforts and sacrifices of the past two years have been in vain. Rather, it is to point out the fact that, while the virus has evolved to survive, replicate and go on spreading, our pandemic strategy hasn’t evolved enough to keep pace.

Our Covid-19 defences have been deficient in many areas: uptake of vaccination and efforts to boost the inoculation rate continue to be found wanting. It is unfortunate that the spotlight has been turned on the elderly. Mocking them with catchy phrases like “no jab, no dim sum” oversimplifies the matter and misplaces the blame. There are plenty of younger people who are only now getting their jabs.

In today’s Hong Kong, there’s simply not enough trust and confidence in the health authorities and the government; efforts to dispel misinformation and disinformation about vaccines have been dismal.

And, as we can see now, the government has no plan B. There is no endgame. As we try to fight a new and improved Covid variant with old and unsustainable weapons, we seem to be succeeding only in stifling learning, hurting businesses and livelihoods, and snuffing out hope. We need a fighting chance and, more than ever, leadership.

Alice Wu is a political consultant and a former associate director of the Asia Pacific Media Network at UCLA