Desperation for and Misinformation of Masks Continues

Practically everyone is wearing a mask in Hong Kong these days

Again this morning in Mongkok I saw a very long line for masks... it was shocking to see. Would those people at the end of the line get a hold of some masks? I read one news report that said people waited seven hours to buy one box of 50 masks.

It is outrageous that the Hong Kong government has not stockpiled on masks -- did they not learn anything from SARS in 2003? And the city is a top logistics hub. How can it be possible we cannot get access to masks from around the world?

Massive lines for face masks, but not enough supply

There are currently just under 8,000 confirmed cases worldwide, 170 deaths in China and now Hong Kong has its 11th confirmed case -- the daughter of the couple that stayed in the W Hotel, The Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong and was in the Four Seasons Hong Kong before being sent to hospital...

And with masks hard to find -- and cases of unscrupulous people selling used masks as clean ones -- Hongkongers are even more worried.

Earlier today pro-Beijing legislator Ann Chiang Lai-wan posted a 10-minute video on Facebook instructing viewers on how to sanitize masks by steaming them so they could be used again.

Democrat Roy Kwong Chun-yu called out Chiang, revealing she had told members of the Legislative Council's health services panel that she was wearing a mask she had steamed.

A health official chides Chiang for steaming her mask

Later in a Legco meeting, Chiang asked Wong Ka-hing, the Controller for the Centre For Health Protection if face masks could be sterilized at home and then reused.

He replied curtly, "It doesn't work according to my understanding," and Chiang had the gall to say that he should check that again, insisting she was correct.

She even wrote on her Facebook page later that she believed masks could be steamed as a last resort.

But medical sector lawmaker and doctor Pierre Chan said this was simply a "horrible" idea and appealed to people not to do this. "Very bad. It's common sense. It will destroy the structure of that surgical mask. It's very simple. It's one-use only and please, do that."

So we ask to the Hong Kong government again -- where are those masks we need to use everyday?

Chiang tells people to steam masks to reuse again -- NOT!

Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung Kin-chung told the media today that 32 million masks were on their way to Hong Kong. But when will they arrive?

He added the government's overseas economic and trade offices had secured an additional 5 million masks to be sent to Hong Kong. But they seem to be only for government use, as the Government Logistics Department, that distributes supplies to law enforcement and social welfare agencies, was down to its last month of supplies, he said.

Oh and it was also revealed that prisoners in Hong Kong make about 45,000 masks a day and that would be stepped up to 70,000 a day -- again for government use.

As Dr Ho Pak-leung an infectious diseases expert at the University of Hong Kong has said, at least 6 million masks are used per day in the city. So what about having enough masks for March? April? May?

Today I visited a few shops like Watson's, Mannings and my local pharmacy and they all had signs at the entrance saying they were all out of masks, hand sanitizers, alcohol rubs.

It's very depressing and hard to know when the end in sight is. But what makes it worse is ordinary Hongkongers not being able to get a hold of the basic protection they need and the government hardly doing enough to help them.