Lam's Lockdown Plans Need Tweaking

Lam addressed media this afternoon, admitted could be better

Just over a year since the first case of the coronavirus was reported in Hong Kong, the city now has over 10,000 cases and is desperately trying to clamp down on a surge in cases in the Jordan area in Yau Tsim Mong district.

Late last night the government imposed a lockdown at over 100 buildings with streets cordoned off and monitored by police. That meant people coming back late could not go home, while those in their flats could not go out.

Goal was to test 10,000 with results by Monday

Meanwhile healthcare workers went door to door testing people.

The residents in lockdown were given food but there were lots of complaints -- as Hongkongers like to do, but in this case it was quite valid. They were given instant noodles, oranges, white bread, uncooked pasta and canned items like sardines and baked beans.

Instant noodles are hardly nutritious as well as white bread, and what are residents going to cook pasta with if there's no sauce? However, government officials didn't think to ask or know that many of the elderly living in this neighbourhood don't have can openers let alone a kitchen to cook.

They usually depend on social workers to deliver hot food to them, and now they can't come in to help feed them. District councillor Owan Li said the government should have considered delivering hot meals to them.

Lots of instant noodles, oranges and canned food

Nevertheless the food they were given is such a hodge podge... how do you even make a decent meal out of that?

This afternoon Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor gave a press conference near the lockdown area, wearing a black hoodie, while Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee wore a puffy jacket -- in 25 degree weather?!

Lam admitted there was room for improvement. She said the lockdown was difficult to execute without residents knowing, as 3,000 people are involved in administering the operation, and that perhaps people would be less anxious if they knew the lockdown was only for 48 hours and that food would be provided to them, though now we know it wasn't adequate.

She also said the lockdown was nothing like those on the mainland and preferred to call the scheme "restriction testing declaration", and that it would be lifted after testing was completed.

Lam visited the area but was she welcomed?

When questioned by reporters if residents who were inconvenienced by the scheme would be compensated, particularly if they could not get to their jobs, Lam would only reply that residents were supplied with food and there was a hotline to call if they had any questions.

The aim of the lockdown -- I mean "restriction testing declaration" -- is to test 10,000 people by tonight so that they will be able to get back to work by Monday morning. Again the government is oblivious to the possibility that some people work weekends...

What is scary is that Secretary for the Environment Wong Kam-sing reported nearly 90 percent of the sewage samples collected from 40 buildings in this area tested positive for the virus. So having them continue to live in these contaminated places is hardly ideal. 

However, where do you mover 10,000 people? And how can their sewage pipes be fixed?

Covid-19 is not going away in Hong Kong anytime soon, despite wearing your mask everyday, washing your hands and social distancing. The virus has revealed there are too many structural issues causing such a big spread of the virus...