Worries of Surge in Post-Halloween Cases

People were partying in various "masks" for Halloween...

On Halloween night there were lots of people out on the streets, particularly in Lan Kwai Fong, and Secretary for Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee was worried looking at the footage that the large groups of people may lead to a spike in coronavirus infections.

But it was the government that eased restrictions just in time for Halloween... we may find out if there really is a surge in positive cases in the next two weeks.

A positive case was in Mongkok Police station

However there are other local infections to worry about, including a  26-year-old man who works for Cable TV and stayed in a holiday hotel in Mui Wo on Lantau with friends, and a 42-year-old mainland woman who was allegedly a prostitute arrested in a vice operation and the origins of her infection are unknown.

She came into contact with at least 23 officers as she was arrested in a hotel in Mongkok, then transferred to Mongkok Police Station for three days before she was moved to Castle Peak Bay Immigration Centre, then finally Ma Tau Kok Detention Centre.

It's interesting that anyone arrested these days is not tested for Covid-19 right away. So far four officers are in quarantine, and the police station was disinfected. While she was in detention, she shared a cell with six others; luckily they have all tested negative.

Another case stayed at this hotel in Mui Wo

Meanwhile the man shared a hotpot meal with 10 people at a friend's home, seven of them also worked at Cable TV. A woman who stayed with him in the holiday hotel in Silvermine Bay also tested positive along with a 15-year-old related to her.

While the number of daily local infections is less than five, it is apparently not low enough for the mainland to be confident enough to open the border with Hong Kong. 

A commentary in People's Daily on Saturday used Macau as an example, and said the borders were reopened after the casino hub had the virus under control.

"The top priority for Hong Kong is to effectively control the epidemic, strictly prevent cases from rebounding, and stamp out local infections," the commentary said.

It said the central government had supported Hong Kong by sending a team of medical staff to help with the city's mass testing program in September.

As I blogged earlier, China doesn't even count its positive cases according to everyone else's definition; it only counts positive cases as ones with symptoms and not the asymptomatic ones according to the WHO standard. 

Restaurants like Caprice are easier to book now

But that's fine if the mainland doesn't want to reopen the border with us.

Many Hongkongers are very happy to get reservations at Michelin-starred restaurants more easily and malls are much less crowded, along with public transportation.

That's the one upside of living in a pandemic...

 

Celebrating Halloween with Tear Gas

Sheung Wan got a tear gas buffet around 10pm tonight

As expected, some people did not let warnings from the Hong Kong police deter them to celebrate Halloween. However there weren't many places for them to go. At around 4pm, the organizers of the Lan Kwai Fong Halloween party started setting up water barricades -- the first time they did this.

Not only did this limit the number of people who could be in the already narrow streets of Lan Kwai Fong and D'Aguilar, but also just the sight of these barricades surely put off a lot of people from even bothering to go in.

A person as the Prince Edward MTR station

And in fact the police didn't even want revelers to go into the area (much to the chagrin of restaurant and bar managers and staff in Lan Kwai Fong). So on top of the water barricades, the police surrounded the entrance to the area to further deter people from going in.

It's really overkill and unnecessary.

Nevertheless, people who came out knew they would have to take precautions, and they completely flouted the mask ban by covering up their faces one way or another. And their costumes? They didn't have to look far for inspiration of a political kind.

Many wore masks like the one for V for Vendetta, or painted their faces. Some chose to dress up like Joaquin Phoenix's character Joker, as a statement to stand up against an oppressive government.

One person actually created an elaborate costume of the Prince Edward MTR station, with their head where the station entrance is, and body had the calendar day of August 31, when passengers were brutally attacked by riot police in the station. Some believe that three people are missing and presumed dead, but the government has said medical staff didn't count the number of injured properly.

Today is the second month anniversary of the attack and so the person's costume was very apt tonight.

Many took on the Joker look for Halloween tonight

Another dressed up as someone who had been water cannoned by the police complete with blue dye. In protest lexicon, the person was "Smurfed", referring to the characters whose bodies are blue. Some of my colleagues have been "Smurfed", and have told me they literally have to scrub their skin raw to get rid of the blue dye.

Or how about dressing up as a tear gas canister? All the details are written out on the canister, including the expiry date that has already passed. An inexpensive yet clever costume.

Hong Kong people's creativity is fantastic -- even five months later they are channeling their anger and frustrations into creative satirical costumes.

However, the police have been out in force all over town and Mongkok was the first to have tear gas unleashed around 8pm. There are clips of a young man being pepper sprayed in the face by the police at point blank range, while a woman dressed as Maleficent complete with horns, taunted the police to "spray her ass" and got tackled and arrested.

Or how about being "Smurfed"?

The outrageous behaviour of the police make Hongkongers believe their beloved city is fast sliding into a police state. That is why people are pushing back against the force's actions as much as they can to try to tell them this ridiculous and need to step back and realize what they are doing is not only unlawful but also dangerous.

Recently the government has been mulling the idea of an independent investigation into police brutality. Seems like it's a trial balloon to gauge reaction.

But perhaps Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor should listen to Abraham Shek Lai-him or Abraham Razack, a pro-Beijing lawmaker who represents the property sector in the Legislative Council.

In a recent interview he said the government cannot solve the current crisis with housing policies.

"You cannot buy dignity," he said. "Their five demands did not mention that they want a house. The five demands of young people are that they want justice, fairness and transparency."

Shek himself opposed the extradition bill many months ago and says the government needs to listen to the people.

Many wear the V for Vendetta mask these days

"The rule of law of Hong Kong and the mainland are different. By suddenly plugging this hole -- combining common law, Hong Kong law, and the country's law -- then we will lose [the difference]," he said.

"The three million people [who marched] were not against her. They wanted to protect our existing system."

He also said the government wasn't doing enough to solve the political problem, and the education system should not be blamed for the current situation.

"Our education system was not problematic. We taught many young people to be responsible. They go to [protests], regardless if they are yellow, blue, black or white, because they have ideals," Shek said. "Regardless if they are wrong or not, we have to listen to them. How do we listen? By starting an independent investigation."

Low-tech costume as a tear gas canister. She was busy tonight

Will Lam listen to Shek? He seems to have a very good understanding of the situation. 

Or maybe she's waiting to hear back what Beijing says following the 4th Plenum to see if she still has a job or not...

Halloween is Cancelled

Halloween in Lan Kwai Fong usually brings out revelers in fun costumes

Halloween should be a festive day for people to dress up in fun costumes, pretending to be someone else for a night wearing masks and such. Wearing masks help people to lose their inhibitions and play harmless tricks on people, or get treats.

But with the ongoing anti-government protests where the government has a controversial mask ban in place, Halloween is going to be pathetic this year.

The annual Halloween Fest at Ocean Park is cancelled

Ocean Park has cancelled its big annual Halloween Fest that was planned for tomorrow, and the MTR will have trains running until 11pm, but Prince Edward station will close at 2pm, while Central will close at 9pm -- just when the reveling gets started in Lan Kwai Fong.

The police have planned to have 3,000 officers stationed on Hong Kong Island, complete with three water cannons and god knows how many canisters of tear gas. And of course there will be lots of police at the Chief Executive's Office in Tamar, and at the liaison office in Sai Ying Pun.

Protesters are calling for a march from Victoria Park to Lan Kwai Fong, and the dress code is for participants to wear face masks of government officials. That in itself is amusing.

Will we see scenes like this tomorrow night?

But alas the police are taking no chances and may plan to install road blocks in Tin Hau, Causeway Bay, Wan Chai, Admiralty and Central.

"Members of the public should avoid traveling to concerned areas when public disorder occurs. Police may also close some roads if necessary," the police said in a statement.

We'll have to see what tomorrow brings...

CY Leung's Halloween Fright

Troubled privileged girl Leung Chai-yan in her Halloween costume

Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying has more problems on his hands and it's not the city that has the issues -- it's his daughter.

Leung Chai-yan has been a periodic thorn in his side and this time she lashed out at her mother, Regina Tong Ching-yee.

For Halloween, the 24-year-old was dressed up as a ghoulish figure in a white robe, with a white face save for dark makeup around the eyes and streaks on her cheeks to make it look as if mascara was running down her face. Her red lips were artfully painted with a few red streaks too.

Regina Tong cradling her face after her daughter slapped her

However, when it was time to leave the Lan Kwai Fong area, which was choc full of party goers, Tong tried to help her daughter get into a taxi and Leung slapped her face twice, pushing her out of the taxi too.

In the video footage, Tong was seen cradling her cheek in shock.

"You know this mum is not my actual biological mother," Leung said to the small crowd who had gathered at the scene around 3am Sunday morning. "Mum, just go. Just go."

The young woman then ushered a young man into the vehicle and helped cover his face, leaving her mother behind.

Today Tong tried to brush off the altercation, claiming her daughter was "tipsy" at the time and had no intention of offending anyone.

Moments before Leung slapped her mother twice in the taxi

She also claimed the media, some 50 reporters surrounded Leung and her friends.

"What Chai-yan wanted to do was to protect her friends and not let them be pictured by the media," Tong said. "Chai-yan is a kind-hearted girl. She is keen to protect her friends. I believe she had no intention of offending anyone with her behaviour that evening."

Then what about her comment saying Tong wasn't her biological mother?

She had no comment, but instead pleaded with the media to give her daughter more space.

Right...

Sounds like Tong is desperate to spin the story, but pictures and videos don't lie.

Obviously Leung has some serious issues, the first of which is slapping her mother -- as well as denouncing her -- in public.

She has become a desperate and frightening side show for CY Leung's administration, who is constantly put in crisis management mode whenever his daughter does something public.

Perhaps yet another reason Leung should not seek a second term? Who knows what his daughter will do next?!

Picture of the Day: Laying Out Halloween

A beautiful Halloween-themed display in New York

When we were in New York a few weeks ago, residents were already in the Halloween spirit. Many apartments decorated their stairs like this one above, with pumpkins and skeletons, cobwebs, spiders and other spooky accessories.

If someone decorated their front door in Hong Kong with decorations like that, they would have been stolen already, which makes it interesting to note how New Yorkers for the most part respect other people's property.

In Hong Kong, it is rare that one could leave out a display like this and not have anyone take anything -- unless someone was watching it all day.

There are the odd instances where someone may turn in a wallet or smartphone to the owner or the authorities in Hong Kong, but for the most part, if something is missing, consider it gone for good.

What does this say about our city and residents? Have we lost our morals in Hong Kong?

No More Spooky Subways

Some colourful zombies wandering around on campus for Halloween

If you're ever in Beijing, please don't wear ghoulish costumes that may freak people out in the subway.

That's according to new rules where the Chinese capital has issued guidelines on wearing "bizarre dress" and "horror makeup" inside the train network.

While the new rules didn't explicitly impose a ban, it didn't specify a punishment for violations, nor did it explain why these new rules were coming out now.

No more scaring passengers on subway trains

"Some costumes will cause panic, thus posing a threat to security [within the station]. So we discourage people from wearing them even though they are not banned," said Liang Jianwei, deputy head of Beijing's transport police.

Last year Beijing temporarily banned costumes on trains ahead of Halloween, which is becoming increasingly popular with young people.

However other Chinese cities have had problems with Halloween costumes, like a 31-year-old man who looked like a zombie and created chaos in Shanghai's subway station, running around with a scarred face and "attacking" terrified passengers.

Meanwhile a three-year-old Shanghainese girl was terrified when she encountered four people dressed up as nurses with what looked like bloodstained faces on a subway train.

While Halloween is a relatively new concept for mainlanders, they will have to understand that dressing up like this is only for one night out of the year, while those keen to scare others should save the frights for their friends and like minded party goers, not on public transport...