01 point of view
Written by: Review Editor
2020-04-07 15:15
Date of last update: 2020-04-07 15:15Since the government tightened the quarantine measures, all people arriving by plane must be tested at the Asia International Expo and the temporary quarantine center of North Lantau Hospital, and immigrants who do not have illnesses can leave directly and isolate themselves for 14 days. However, there are many loopholes in this measure.
One of the loopholes is that only the immigrants who have already had symptoms are detected, which may make the invisible patients spread the virus in the community. Sergio Romagnani, a professor of clinical immunology at the University of Florence in the epidemic-stricken area, pointed out that testing for new pneumonia in northern Italy, where the outbreak first occurred, found that 50% to 75% of infected people had no symptoms. China has recently begun to pay attention to the announcement of the number of asymptomatic people. All these indicate that epidemic prevention must pay attention to screening invisible patients. As the number of immigrants decreases, the authorities are considering a deep-throat saliva test for all arrivals. This move is worth implementing as soon as possible.
Eighty percent of diagnoses come from home quarantine
The second loophole in the current measures lies in self-contained home isolation. It is difficult to ensure that all quarantined persons comply with the rules by self-contained house isolation. Secondly, they may also take public transportation on their way home and contact other citizens, causing potential transmission risks. Furthermore, Hong Kong is an intensive city after all, with a small per capita living area, and home segregation may also spread risks to family members and even neighbors living together. Among the 71 confirmed cases newly added from April 4 to 6, 59 confirmed cases were diagnosed after quarantine at home. Therefore, the government should really consider improving the existing isolation measures.
(Photo of Cordis Hotel Hong Kong)
Help the hotel to survive the cold winter
"Opinion 01" has pointed out earlier that the government rents some hotel rooms for isolation purposes, which can be used for two purposes, helping both the hotel industry and epidemic prevention. Affected by the epidemic, the occupancy rate of most five-star hotels in February was less than 10%. The daily rent of the three hotels located on Canton Road under the Wharf Real Estate Group also fell significantly. It is expected that total revenue will only be 5% or less. Therefore, if the government rents a hotel room for quarantine, it is also helping the hotel industry to survive the cold winter.
On the other hand, the hotel itself is a place where many people choose to isolate, just because there is currently no unified plan, which makes the isolation of the hotel inconvenient. Some people who come back from abroad choose to go to the hotel for isolation. Others let family members who come back from abroad stay in the house and live in the hotel themselves. Many frontline medical staff choose to stay in the hotel temporarily for the sake of family health. Since some hotels have actually undertaken the epidemic prevention and isolation function, why should the government not unify planning and management?
At present, it is up to the hotel to decide whether the hotel accepts persons subject to mandatory quarantine. Yao Sirong, deputy chairman of the Hong Kong Tourism Council, said that more than a dozen hotels or guesthouses had contacted him, saying that they accepted such people, mostly small and medium-sized hotels. Now News Channel inquired about more than 20 hotels as customers, and more than 10 of them said that they accepted quarantine. Therefore, citizens in need can only make enquiries one by one, which may cause inconvenience and are more likely to face unexpected situations brought about by changes in hotel policies. For example, a woman who was interviewed by Qing Qing said that in order to allow her family to be forced to isolate at home, she went out in advance to contact a hotel that did not accept the mandatory quarantine. The hotel accepted the mandatory quarantine for half the time. , Making her worry about health risks, but nowhere to go. Some media also found that because the list of hotels subject to compulsory quarantine check-in is not uniformly disclosed, some travelers who choose to stay in hotels often arrive in Hong Kong before inquiring one by one. Therefore, if the government rents a hotel for quarantine purposes, it can coordinate the designation of some hotels that can be checked in and quarantine, and publish the list online. It will be clearer for ordinary citizens, frontline medical care and people who need quarantine. Free from confusion.
(Photo by Liang Pengwei)
Medical care needs accommodation options
Secondly, the current hotel arrangements for quarantined persons are also different. The hotel that accepts quarantine quarantines will be charged from 3,000 yuan to 10,000 yuan on the 14th, and special arrangements are made. If quarantine personnel are arranged on a designated floor and one person per room, the quarantine personnel will also be arranged to measure their temperature. But the epidemic prevention measures are different. For example, when cleaning the room, some hotels will not enter the room for cleaning during the quarantine period. Towels, bed linens and other items must be handed over at the door of the room and replaced by the quarantine personnel. Some hotels provide a weekly cleaning service.
Indeed, where the hotel is not professionally isolated, the hotel service staff is also not professional medical care. This is precisely why the Minister of Food and Health Chen Zhaoshi was concerned about the segregation of rented hotels. But as Yao Sirong quoted the industry as saying, many hotels currently use central air conditioning systems that can operate independently in different rooms without causing cross-infection. The hotel only needs to adjust the hardware slightly according to government guidelines and provide training for employees. You can receive quarantine personnel. Moreover, some hotels have actually undertaken the isolation function, but there is no clear supervision and unified standards in terms of specifications and measures. Private houses and housing estates are not professionally isolated locations, so the government should no longer refuse to rent hotels.
As the epidemic continues, more and more medical staff need to join the frontline work commonly known as the "dirty team". They worry that they will increase the risk of family infection after returning home from work. Coupled with the global epidemic, even if the international population movement remains low, there must be people entering Hong Kong every day and need to be quarantined. Since there is such a need, the government should take on the coordinating role, especially the need to support the medical staff who are paying for the community, so that their off-work life can be properly arranged. At present, Macao and the mainland have adopted a model of quarantine medical observation in designated hotels, allowing immigrants to reduce contact with the public on the first 14 days of arrival, identify invisible patients as early as possible, and block community transmission. When will the Hong Kong government stay?
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New Crown Pneumonia 01 Viewpoint Hotel and Hotel Industry