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| Does Lam really want to fight the virus? Or it's just a slogan? |
Today more shocking news, with Hong Kong reporting a whopping 118 new coronavirus cases, 111 of which were locally transmitted, and there was one more death. There are now 2,249 cases and 15 deaths.
Civil servants, originally ordered to work from home for a week, will continue to do so until August 2, while health officials again warned people not to go out unnecessarily. This is being reflected in the volume of passengers taking the MTR which has dropped to levels in March, and health experts are hoping the number of infections will continue to drop in the next two weeks.
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| Dr Choi's answer has gone viral on social media |
Meanwhile, the Hong Kong Medical Association held a press conference and one reporter asked about Covid-19 testing.
"Why can Macau conduct 11,000 tests and Singapore 20,000 tests daily and Hong Kong can't? Is it a difference in testing methods?" she asks.
Hong Kong Medical Association past president Dr Gabriel Choi Kin replied, "The leader is different."
Everyone laughed. Next to Choi was Dr Alvin Chan who laughed too but then realized he was holding his microphone close to his mouth and quickly said, "I just coughed."
We all saw that!
It was a moment of brevity we needed after consecutive days of shock and worry.
But it was also very telling of what the Hong Kong Medical Association thinks of Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and her administration.
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| Dr Chuang going through her briefing notes |
For over six months she has been at least one step behind in implementing measures, and in the beginning she was very lucky that Hong Kong residents took the initiative and started wearing masks right away.
But then as the pandemic wore on, people started getting tired of dealing with the coronavirus and were agitating for some kind of normalcy. They got it, but at a price -- we are now undergoing severe measures where no restaurant can open except for takeaway, whereas before people could dine -- if they dared to.
There is also a long list of people exempted from quarantine who might have spread the virus to the community; this has been brought up by reporters at press conferences, but no health official was willing to address this question until today when Dr Gabriel Leung suggested that samples taken from recent Covid-19 patients bear little resemblance to earlier strains of the virus that his Hong Kong earlier this year.
"The current third wave seemed to have had multiple, new introductions that are unlinked to the previous local clusters," Leung said, meaning that the current wave of infections was brought it by those who did not need to be quarantined.
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| Restaurants already offer takeaway options |
One has to wonder if infectious disease experts who are advising the government are frustrated by the administration's unwillingness to act faster, or only taking half-hearted measures to really stop the virus from spreading further. Today's regulation of making it mandatory for people to wear masks indoors was head-scratching, as practically everyone already wears masks when they go into establishments.
But how about this motivation -- the faster everyone stays at home most of the time, wears masks whenever they go out, practice social distancing and personal hygiene, then it gives Lam less of an opportunity to postpone or cancel the upcoming Legislative Council elections in September.
We all want to vote, right? So please do your part and stay home (as much as possible)!
