Polar Opposites Paralyse Hong Kong

Moon Palace is now the source of four infections so far

The local Omicron cluster is starting to grow with a fourth woman who tested preliminary positive for the virus. She also ate at Moon Palace, the Chinese restaurant in Festival Walk shopping mall in Kowloon Tong as the three other infections reported yesterday.

However, she was not very close to the other three people so it will be interesting to see how health experts like Dr Yuen Kwok-yung explain how she got infected.

In the meantime one would hope that with the local outbreak people who have yet to be vaccinated would finally realise it's time to get the jab for their own protection, but they are not budging.

People are tested in relation to fourth infection

Had dinner with relatives in their 60s at their home tonight and I strongly suggested that with Omicron in the community it was time they get vaccinated. 

One said that it wasn't as severe as before, to which I added, only if you are double vaccinated.

Then they added, well even if you triple vaccinated you can get infected. 

I explained yes, you can get infected even if you have had the jab, but if you are inoculated, then your symptoms are mild. If you are not vaccinated then you will have serious health issues.

That resulted in zero response.

Then somehow the conversation turned to vaccine passports and that maybe you can't eat in restaurants if you haven't had the jab. Another asked if we could possibly get a reservation at top Chinese restaurant The Chairman, which has a Michelin star and was rated No. 1 on the Asia's 50 Best Restaurants rankings.

While it's practically impossible to get a reservation there, even if I managed to get a table, how can they even eat there if they haven't been vaccinated? 

Lam insists on Zero Covid strategy for HK

They can't have their cake and eat it too.

At the same time the government's extreme Zero Covid strategy is impossible to achieve, though Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor is determined to make it happen one way or another. She has been successful for over 70 days but now that streak is over.

It is high time to get more elderly people -- like my relatives -- vaccinated, because once the borders open -- and they will eventually -- then there will be more infections in the community and these people will be caught off guard.

In the meantime for the rest of us, it's Groundhog Day, over and over again, with no end in sight. The selfishness at both ends of the spectrum (not wanting to get vaccinated, or wanting zero Covid) leave the rest of us in limbo.