Hong Kong's Social-Distancing Measures to Continue

Social-distancing will continue for another week with case numbers still high

Hong Kong recorded 44 new coronavirus cases today, 31 of which were locally transmitted, 20 of them related to other cases.

Before the regular briefing by the Centre for Health Protection and the Hospital Authority, there were erroneous news reports that the dine-in ban would be relaxed so that people could eat in restaurants until 9pm or 10pm starting from Wednesday.

Only two people can dine per table these days until 6pm

However, that information was soon quashed when the government announced social-distancing measures would continue for another week until August 25, which include only two people can eat per table with restaurants having 50 percent capacity, and they can only dine from 5am to 6pm. Meanwhile masks must be worn outside, including while exercising.

So that bright hope to have dinner in a restaurant was extinguished and besides it was too short a notice for eateries to even prepare to open within two days.

With regards to the existing clusters, there are now 65 cases at the Kwai Tsing container terminals, which health officials are racing to contain. But the virus has exposed the plight of the workers there, who seem to work long shifts. They share a common area for meals, showers and even beds for sleeping.

The Kwai Tsing container terminal has seen 65 cases so far

Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan of the CHP described it as the staff there living like a family, eating together, using the same showers and beds.

Why did the supervisors or even bosses of these container terminals not know these workers could not practice proper social distancing in this kind of an environment and that they needed more space? The workers themselves were possibly too worried about their jobs to complain, or they are so used to this that they didn't think it was a problem.

The CHP has apparently inspected the area, though it was not clear if it was properly disinfected.

Another interesting case is about a 33-year-old man who had contracted the virus in March in Hong Kong, got better by April, but then went to Spain earlier this month and came back testing positive for the virus.

They are testing him to see if the strain is the same as the one in Hong Kong or different. Either way it will be interesting to see how this case develops. But more importantly, why was he traveling?! Did he really need to go to Spain?!

Dr Chuang says container workers live together "like family"

Some people are traveling because they feel entitled or that they don't want to waste their precious holiday time in Hong Kong.

Meanwhile the rest of us are not even interested in going through all the trouble of traveling let alone the increased chance of being infected by the virus and are staying put.

It's just crazy to think there are people out there who don't think the virus will affect them, but in this case this man is infected again. Worth all that effort?