Health Officials U-Turn on Media Briefings

 

The 4.30pm press briefings on the pandemic are held everyday

Ever since the first cases of the coronavirus were detected in Hong Kong in late January, the Centre for Health Protection in conjunction with the Hospital Authority have held a 4.30pm press conference practically everyday. 

And the CHP's head of communicable diseases branch, Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, has briefed reporters almost every time, except for when her husband was in critical condition with a brain tumour last month, and then a few days after he succumbed to his illness.

Dr Chung has been a fixture at these briefings

She has been the steady voice reporting on Hong Kong's latest news on the pandemic, and for many, a reassuring face every afternoon, though she has lost her patience at reporters who ask her the same question five different ways, or has to explain over and over why she cannot give too detailed information about a case due to privacy issues, or there are too many cases to read out.

At some briefings, more senior officials are present, such as Under Secretary for Food and Health Dr Chui Tak-yi or his boss, Sophia Chan Siu-chee, when new measures are introduced.

It is these question and answer periods that can tease out more information from the CHP and HA, and in the case of senior health officials, making the government accountable for its decisions. 

At these press conferences, everyone wears a mask and surely sanitizes their hands before using the microphone to ask questions. Not one confirmed case has been reported transmitted from these media briefings.

However, late last night the Department of Health abruptly announced the 4.30pm press conference would be moved online, claiming it was a bid to minimize the risk of infection at the Department of Health facilities where the briefings are held.

Secretary for Health Dr Sophia Chan

This notice immediately drew condemnation from media outlets and groups who alleged it was intended to help officials evade tough lines of inquiry and undermined the public's right to know.

The new format of online briefings would have meant that media registration would take place an hour before the conference started each day, and reporters would have to send questions in text form. This meant the traditional Q&A session would have been eliminated, even though the daily sessions would be streamed online.

Seven media groups and outlets issued a joint statement late last night, including RTHK, Next Media and Ming Pao, that this online format would filter out sensitive questions, and that physically-attended briefings had taken place all year long, even when the number of cases were over 100. 

It also added since no infections were detected among the journalists from attending the briefings, then moving to online without consultation was unreasonable. 

"The government can screen out sharp questions with the move. Journalists will also face difficulties posing follow-up questions. This will seriously undermine the public's right to know and press freedom," the statement said.

The group was also concerned this would lead to other government briefings to be held online as well.

Director of Health Constance Chan

Meanwhile the Department of Health hit back, claiming there were a few confirmed cases in the centre last month and so it was important to take caution against group gatherings. 

Soon after the government made a U-turn and allowed the in-person briefings to continue as before, the reversal apparently made by the chief executive herself. 

This afternoon the Director of Health Dr Constance Chan Hon-yee was asked a number of questions from reporters regarding the flip-flop. She claimed another reason was that the audio wasn't working well, but once that was sorted the briefings would go virtual, but Chan was unable to explain why or when.

It's interesting the government did an immediate reversal of its decision to go online, though one wonders if virtual briefings may be forcefully implemented later, leaving reporters no choice but to work within the confines of the new format.

But it would give the public more reason not to trust the government, and as in my previous blog post, lead to resentment to fester further, and that could be unleashed one day...

Government Flip-Flops in Virus Fight

Scenes like this prompted the government to make a U-turn

The Hong Kong government can't seem to make up its mind on how to fight the coronavirus pandemic. It seems to think half-hearted measures are the way to go, and blames outbreaks on people not wearing masks, when it is because some 290,000 people have been exempted from quarantine since February and have spread the virus into the local community.

And now the government has completely flip-flopped on its latest regulation to stop all dining in restaurants after numerous complaints and media coverage of blue-collar workers forced to eat outside in the heat and rain. The pro-establishment lawmakers even protested, fearing this would affect their election chances in September.

Chui (in the middle) was in the hot seat today

Starting from tomorrow people can eat breakfast and lunch inside restaurants, with maximum two per table and 50 percent capacity.

Why this quick U-turn from some media coverage and complaints, when last summer some 2 million people peacefully protested against the extradition bill and were ignored by the government?

At this afternoon's regular media briefing on the coronavirus situation, the Undersecretary for Health Chui Tak-yi was grilled by reporters about this sudden change in decision, even when Hong Kong reported a new record high of 149 cases.

Chui kept saying over and over that the government saw the situation, understood that it was difficult for workers to not have a place to eat lunch and so the decision was made to reverse the ban on dining in restaurants.

Restaurants are back to serving breakfast, lunch

But what about concerns about catching the virus when dining in restaurants because people are not wearing masks? He repeated his answer.

Reporters asked if the government would apologize, and how did he feel about the picture of the middle-aged man kneeling to eat his lunch? Again Chui would not be baited and repeated the above reply over and over.

However the government's decision did not add up at all, considering the record number of cases.

And now restaurants are scrambling again to re-open tomorrow. The government, as I said before, has no idea what it's like the run a restaurant. Some had decided to shut for the week, while others ordered less ingredients thinking business would be slow.

Restaurateurs can't even get a break in this city.

Some people just want the government to bite the bullet and put the city under lockdown for two weeks and get it over with to seriously control the virus. Only allow people to go out once a day for a certain period of time to buy necessities and that's it.

Tony Chung was arrested last night for secession

While we will all go crazy, this tough measure would at least stop the chain of local infections and give the healthcare system a chance to focus on its current batch of patients instead of having to find band-aid solutions to the overwhelming number of cases.

Meanwhile the government has no problem determining it has to arrest four young people from the ages of 16 to 21 for inciting independence on a Facebook page, have legal academic Benny Tai Yiu-ting sacked from the University of Hong Kong, and disqualify 12 pan-democratic candidates from running in September's Legislative Council Elections. And this is just this week alone.

And yet it can't decide to take a tough stand on a virus.

The government's battle cry, "Together, we fight the virus!" gets hollower by the day.