HK chooses fear over living with Covid

Hong Kong has decided to live with the fear of the virus, instead of the virus itself. If the territory wants to survive in a post-pandemic world, then the false bubble of security it has created can’t last.
Last week, a 38-year-old vaccinated woman tested positive with the L452R mutant strain, present in the Delta variant of the virus. She had recently returned from the US, quarantined for seven days in a hotel, and was in the second week of self-monitoring at home when she received the result. A compulsory testing notice for people who had been on public buses, shops and markets where the woman had been was issued.
As fear and paranoia escalated, a government adviser said the quarantine for incoming travelers was “very likely” to be tightened again. Hong Kong imposed stricter measures for travellers arriving from certain countries, including the US Officials had loosened requirements — only slightly — depending on the point of departure in recent weeks.
At around 40%, the territory still has one of the lowest inoculation rates in the developed world, despite an excess supply of one of
the most effective vaccines. Hong Kong also has had effectively zero locally transmitted cases on average for the past several weeks. Still, it continues to impose one of the longest, strictest quarantine measures on the planet for inbound residents — up to three weeks.
Little scientific evidence suggests that anything beyond the World Health Organization’s recommended 14 days is effective.
The financial, physical and emotional cost of this strategy — which involves spending, in many cases, thousands of dollars, to live in a government-mandated hotel room for days on end — falls entirely to travelers and returning residents. They have to undergo antibody testing from specific labs and test multiple times throughout quarantine. Anyone wanting to leave or come in has to think hard.
All the while, Hong Kong’s hotels and swimming pools are full of staycation-ers. Restaurants, bars and public transportation are jammed. The city has given its residents a sense of safety within the confines of its borders, while creating fear of what’s on the other side.
Quarantines are a must to lower transmission rates. They also buy time as vaccinations and testing increase worldwide, and people establish behaviors to live with Covid, such as masking and staying home when sick. Yet the length and mode of the isolation is still up for debate. When the pandemic hit, 14 days became the global standard because it’s the outer limit of the virus’s incubation period. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reiterated this recommendation last December, but acknowledging the burden of a two-week period, outlined alternatives to shorten it in specific cases. Proposed measures involved increasing testing, monitoring and evaluation.
That did little to change things in Hong Kong, even as the costs were becoming
apparent. In March, Chief
Executive Carrie Lam said: “The 21-day quarantine that Hong Kong has imposed on arrivals from outside China is, I will confess, very stringent,” adding that “we continue to have positive cases confirmed beyond the 14th day while in quarantine.” She said she would “personally” look into the matter at the time.

—Bloomberg