Coronavirus social distancing becoming a joke in Hong Kong that will end in tears for everyone

By now we must all be familiar with the term “Covidiot”, trending slang in the coronavirus glossary to describe a person whose response to the greatest global health crisis of our times can range from needlessly hoarding daily essentials to recklessly flouting public health warnings and social-distancing protocol.

Hong Kong is home to all variants of the species, and they’re on the verge of dismantling every hard-fought milestone achieved in the city’s struggle against Covid-19, as cabin fever drives them out into the streets all over again in a resurgence of shopping, dining, picnicking, partying, sunbathing and other imperative group activities.

The authorities are always a couple of steps behind, mopping up the mess with incremental bans and closures, even as some of the world’s top infectious-disease experts based in this city warn of catastrophic consequences if we don’t wise up to the reality and enormity of what we’re facing.

There’s an air of defiance in the behaviour of the hordes descending on beaches and scenic spots at the start of the long Easter weekend. Defiant voices from the crowds can be heard justifying the mass excursions with excuses such as the need to absorb Vitamin D from the sun (really, from a population otherwise famous for blocking out the faintest ray of sunshine with umbrellas and oversized visors to preserve prized, porcelain-pale complexions) and the lack of statistics to prove that anyone has caught the coronavirus at a beach or country park (never mind that the high-risk factor pertains to human proximity, not the freshness of the air).

Selfish, reckless people squander Hong Kong’s gains in war against coronavirus

While Hong Kong has won accolades on the international stage for its exemplary progress in keeping a lid on Covid-19 infections, at this rate it won’t be long before we’re held up as a sad example of what happens when success breeds complacency and ends in failure.

You can sum up this city’s battle against Covid-19 in three distinct phases: after initial dithering and lax border controls, we managed to contain the first wave of infections from mainland China; the second wave is still ongoing as Hongkongers returning from stricken North American and European cities bring the disease home, although we’ve managed to whittle down that daily infection tally to low double digits; and the third wave is the one building up in small community clusters as people insist on social gatherings and group activities.

It’s not just the holiday crowds looking for leisure spots with the collective order of lemmings jumping off the proverbial cliff – working days are the same, with streets filling up and train stations starting to look alarmingly overcrowded again.

Of course, not everyone has the luxury of being in a profession that allows them to work from home, and many have to commute. But it’s clear too many employers are too set in their ways, even just bloody minded, to trust their employees to perform their duties without the direct, physical supervision that an office environment enables.

Man is by nature a social animal, and in this city in particular, it’s proving hard to overcome the deeply ingrained herd mentality and natural tendency to take comfort in numbers even in the middle of a life-threatening pandemic.

Never mind China, look to the US for the next big coronavirus crisis

During an exclusive Facebook event recently featuring international experts and journalists on the coronavirus crisis, I didn’t hesitate to name the people of Hong Kong in front of millions around the world watching the show when asked who should get the real credit for preventing what could easily have been a disaster here in the early days.

I may have spoken too soon, given how social distancing is becoming a joke these days, and it may well end in tears for all of us if the complacency and Covidiocy creeping back in is allowed to proliferate and leave us staring into the abyss all over again.

Yonden Lhatoo is the chief news editor at the Post