Convoluted "Vaccine Bubble" Starts

The "vaccine bubble" is very confusing and tedious

 

Today the government's "vaccine bubble" kicked off, with new regulations for restaurants, bars and nightclubs depending on if staff and customers have their first vaccine or not, and that people had to use the LeaveHomeSafe app.

For restaurants, if all staff have had at least one vaccine as well as customers, then people can sit six to a table until midnight in restaurants, and if both staff and guests are vaccinated with both doses, bars can have eight to a table and dine until 2am.

However, if not all staff or customers have at least one vaccine dose, then they continue as before, four to a table until 10pm.

Leung says the new plan not backed by science

All three options could be available in one restaurant space.

However, given that many restaurants in Hong Kong are relatively small, having spaces for people who have been completely vaccinated, half vaccinated and not at all is not possible.

Apparently the government did not think about this, nor did they realize eateries in this expensive town are tiny.

Nor is this convoluted plan endorsed by health experts.

Infectious disease expert Leung Chi-chiu warned yesterday this "vaccine bubble" plan is not backed up by science and can't be relied on to prevent coronavirus transmissions.

"The number of customers far outnumbers the number of restaurant workers. They [customers] are more likely to be the infection source, and they are also exposed to any customers who carry the virus," Leung said.

"If you only require people to have one dose of the vaccine and you also do not specify the timing, for example at least 14 days after the dose, I think that may not be effective," he said.

If more people get jabs they can dine out later

"Even if you specify the timing, that they need to have the first dose for over 14 days, the actual protective effective varies with different vaccines. It's only estimated at 20 to 70 percent and that may not be adequate to prevent transmission."

Leung also doubted the wisdom of setting up "clean" and "dirty" areas in restaurants based on which groups of people have been vaccinated, saying there may be no separation in the ventilation between the different zones.

"If you really want to reduce the risk of transmission inside an indoor environment, basically you need everyone to be vaccinated, with two doses and for more than 14 days," he said.

However, one restaurant group that has several dining establishments advertised on social media a list of restaurants where people could eat six to a table until midnight.

Someone asked if all their staff had had the two jabs, and the group explained that those who had received the vaccination would work in those specific restaurants, while those who had not would be working in their other places until 10pm. 

Osteria Marzia's staff are vaccinated

In a way this is discriminatory because those who have not received the jab would not have the potential to earn more tips because they would have two fewer hours to work; but at the same time, even those staff with two vaccine doses would still risk being exposed to the virus.

Other restaurants couldn't be bothered to try to implement the new regulations without the fear of being hassled by the police and just continued their business hours until 10pm with four customers per table.

The government is also releasing an app so that people can upload their vaccination records on there to show restaurants. This evening an acquaintance tried to download it and had the hardest time even doing the first part which was scanning his HKID three different ways. It was also only available in Android.

Why is the government making it so hard to prove to others you've had the jab?

And by the way the LeaveHomeSafe app is totally useless.

Last week I went to The Royal Garden Hotel and had that fabulous meal of white asparagus.

A hotel guest had the virus, everyone was tested

Then this past Tuesday it was in the news that anyone who was at the hotel from April 13-26 had to do mandatory testing otherwise they would be fined.

It wasn't the LeaveHomeSafe app that notified me -- it was my friend who dined with me.

So much for Hong Kong being a hi-tech city. 

Having a swab stuck up my nose left it very itchy and my eyes watered.

But less than 24 hours later I was notified I tested negative.

Phew! But what a waste of an app that I still have to use if I want to eat out...

Government Steps Up Testing

The five-star hotel was shut down with 300 staff in quarantine

 

Hong Kong recorded eight new coronavirus cases today, three of which were from The Royal Garden Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui East. Earlier a server in the Vietnamese restaurant Le Soleil tested positive, which prompted the Centre for Health Protection to give out test kits to all the hotel employees and three more were found, another waiter at the Sabatini Ristorante Italiano, one who works in the buffet, and a technician. 

They are all male, which the CHP deduced they all shared the same space in the male changing room and possibly lounge area.

How about drinks with a deep throat saliva test?

In the end 300 staff were sent into quarantine, and as a result the five-star hotel was shut down by management, not CHP.

All the guests' bookings were immediately cancelled, or moved to other hotels in the city, such as the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong, including a wedding reception for tomorrow. Talk about an immediate upgrade.

Tonight the Hong Kong government decided to be more proactive and had a mobile testing centre stationed at Lan Kwai Fong this evening and hand out free test kits to any bar patron or staff who wanted to get tested for free.

The effort is in conjunction with Prenetics, the city's largest private laboratory and they planned to hand out 1,000 kits of specimen bottles for deep saliva tonight, another 1,000 in Tsim Sha Tsui tomorrow, and another 1,000 in Wan Chai on Sunday.

Prenetics staff hand out kits to bar goers tonight

By the way the government is subsidizing the test at HK$900 a pop.  

It'll be interesting to see how many are actually interested in having drinks with friends and a deep throat swab on the side, but it makes the tests more accessible and possible to find more positive cases...