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Written by: Guo Wende
2020-04-07 14:04
Date of last update: 2020-04-07 14:04Apart from sacrificing science and facilitating law enforcement, the "Prevention and Control of Diseases (Regulations and Instructions) (Business and Premises) Regulations" (hereinafter referred to as "Business and Premises Regulations") and the "Prevention and Control of Diseases (Prohibition of Group Aggregation) Regulations" The two "restriction orders" in the "Regulations" (hereinafter referred to as the "Prohibition of Group Aggregation Regulations") also suppress the phenomenon of "off-the-ground" phenomena of government officials and civil servants, as well as the careless drafting and implementation of relevant laws and regulations during the implementation of relevant laws.
To undertake the above:
【New Coronary Pneumonia】 The "Limitation Order" that sacrifices science and facilitates law enforcement
The anti-epidemic measures under public health emergencies cannot, of course, allow people who live in the office and conference rooms all day to talk on paper, but must be based on an in-depth understanding of frontline medical care and the entire civilian situation. Helplessly, although the term of the current SAR Government ’s governance team has exceeded half, it still seems that it has not changed its "off-the-ground" nature. The latest example is when Lin Zheng Yuee was asked by a reporter if the pre-school game group (playgroup) would be When regarded as "group gathering at work in the workplace" exempted from the Schedule of the "Group Gathering Prohibition Regulation", she blurted out and asked the other party, "What playgroup? Do children play those?", This scene immediately reminded the outside world that when she was in the election of the chief executive, she did not know that the MTR station gates needed to push the rotating stick after reading the "Octopus" card, which caused people to tease her after three years but still " Off the ground.
High-ranking officials who do not eat folk fireworks and leave the ground for years
Since those responsible for drafting and approving "restriction orders" adhere to this "off-ground" thinking, they are naturally likely to ignore the reality of the people and formulate some regulations that deviate from the model of public activities, such as the "Business and Location Regulation". The "Public Entertainment Places" in the "Listed Places" apply the existing definitions of the "Public Entertainment Places Ordinance", that is, only include music, drama, theater, movie screenings, laser projection screenings, circus performances, speeches, storytelling, exhibitions , Sports competitions, sales events, motor games, mechanical device entertainment or dancing party activities, but the karaoke shops and mahjong halls regarded by the general public as entertainment venues are absent. This is obviously because of public karaoke entertainment. Venues often hold restaurant licenses, hotel licenses, club qualification certificates or special karaoke venue licenses, while venues for public mahjong activities also hold restaurant licenses, liquor licenses, club qualification certificates or special mahjong / Tianjiu license, so most of them are not regulated by the "Public Entertainment Places Ordinance".
In an interview with a local newspaper, Liang Zichao, chairman of the Infectious Diseases Advisory Committee of the Medical Association, said: "The equipment shared by the theater is actually only the seat and the toilet. There is no direct contact between people, but the Sparrow House is different. To shuffle the cards, the hands will be in direct contact, and the Sparrow House will change channels throughout the day, playing cards with a few unknown people at any time, the risk is much higher, it is unknown why the theater is closed but the Sparrow House is not closed. "Later many government officials and The members of the guild argued that they actually paid attention to the above two types of places, and emphasized that the priority is to place the six places with higher risks, but this further proves that they are not familiar with the actual operation of the relevant places, such as food and health. Secretary of the Bureau Chen Zhaoshi and non-official members of the guild Zhang Yuren also said that many karaoke shops with restaurant licenses have been bound by the "catering business" directive, and it is impossible for customers who come to sing to observe "except for eating and drinking in the premises" From time to time, you must always wear a mask. "
The government thought "off the ground" when drafting and approving the "restriction order", often neglecting the actual situation of the people. (Photo by Li Zetong)
Announcement of delayed semantics, confusing Chaos, reformers, annoyed
And as of April 1, the government first gazetted the "Prevention and Control of Diseases (Regulations and Instructions) (Business and Premises) (Amendment) Regulations 2020" (hereinafter referred to as "Amendment Regulations") to amend the original "Business and Premises Regulations" Schedule 2, Part 1, "Listed Premises", add "Beauty Salon", "Meeting Place", "Nightclub or Nightclub", "Karaoke Place", "Mahjong Tianjiu Play" "Premises" and "massage parlors", but did not expressly specify any specific regulations or restrictions on the business of the above six premises. Nearly 6 pm on the same day, the government republished a new directive from the Food and Drug Administration on "listed premises", forcing the closure of the three categories of "nightclubs or nightclubs", "karaoke establishments", and "Mahjong Sky Nine Playgrounds" 14 days, but the "beauty salon", "meeting place" and "massage parlor" are open, as long as they measure customer temperature, provide disinfectant hand sanitizer and require visitors to wear masks to continue operations.
It was during the three hours between the issuance of the "Amendment Regulations" and the new instruction room that the heads of some beauty salons and massage parlors decided to close the door immediately, evacuate staff, and cancel customer appointments, thus losing business in the afternoon and the next two weeks. On a radio program the next day, Chen Weiji, deputy secretary general of the Food and Health Bureau (Hygiene) admitted that the government failed to publish the new directive of the Secretary immediately after the "Amendment Regulations" came into effect, causing confusion. Ye Shixiong, founding chairman of the Hong Kong Beauty Industry Association, used three A word to describe how I feel about the measures announced on the day: "A" sunshine thunderbolt "," a surprise caught "," a mess ". He said the government let the beauty industry, whose business has been hit hard, was scared to death, and reprimanded It is irresponsible for officials not to give them early warning and account for follow-up arrangements. In fairness, if the government gazettes the "Amendment Regulation" and the announcement at the same time as the "Business and Premises Regulations" were originally enacted, it should be able to avoid such a chaotic situation that the industry is at a loss.
In addition to the unauthorized delay of three hours to separately issue the "Amendment Regulations" and related instructions, the drafters' semantic expressions of ambiguity also have a certain impact on the misunderstandings. Because in the instruction on March 27th regarding "listed spaces", the mandatory closure of 14 days was "all the premises listed in Part 1 of Schedule 2 to the Regulation", followed by "details listed below" , And repeatedly cited the "listed places" such as the original gaming machine center in the schedule of the "Business and Space Regulations", so after the general reader learned that the "Amendment Regulations" added six places to the schedule, it is likely I feel that they are all within the "all the premises listed in Part 1 of Schedule 2 of the Regulations" and need to be closed, and even the official "Hong Kong Anti-epidemic Information Channel" also misunderstands and announces as "Gazette Closed Beauty" It can be seen that there are also people within the government who are not clear about the original intention to issue a new directive to close three of these venues.
It is a pity that officials not only did not learn this lesson, but also made the same mistakes the next day. At about 8 pm last Thursday (April 2), the Director of the Food and Drug Administration issued two additional instructions requesting that the "bar or pub" be closed for 14 days. Although the government finally knew to give the industry time to prepare and set the start of business closure on the afternoon of the next day, the drafter wrote the phrase "purely or mainly used to sell or supply intoxicating alcohol for local enjoyment." The conditions make it difficult for some catering companies to judge whether their store is a "main" liquor seller. Moreover, the Chief Executive, Lin Zheng Yuee, said at a press conference on March 23 that he considered "temporarily prohibiting the sale and supply of alcoholic beverages by these licensed restaurants, bars and clubs through amendments to the law," and changed the name to "social belief" on March 27. The prohibition of drinking and selling alcohol alone is not a way to treat the disease symptomatically, and the cessation measure was suddenly turned into a total ban on the operation of bars and pubs. This changing practice is simply adding to the anxiety of the industry.
The government's regulation of bars and pubs has changed over time, leaving the industry at a loss. (Photo by Zhang Haowei)
Fighting together to help the epidemic prevention situation should not be slow
Looking at the announcement time of the rounds of "restriction order" measures, it can be seen that government officials still feel that they can slowly observe the daily epidemic situation to decide what kind of epidemic prevention measures to introduce. On March 27th, when the "Business and Premises Regulations" was made and relevant instructions were issued, the karaoke establishment was not closed. Since then, from March 30 onwards, a total of seven people have been exposed at the RedMR Party Karaoke Shop in Tsim Sha Tsui. Then, on April 1, another instruction was issued to close the karaoke venue. On the same day, another baby boy was infected by the bar and band members. As a result, the government issued instructions to close the bar the next day. When answering the reporter's question on the same day, Chen Zhaoshi said more bluntly that the government's so-called "rapid response" turned out to be "when we see a change in the epidemic, we immediately add some measures or strengthen some measures." Considering that the "Business and Premises Regulations" have indeed reserved a limit for dining in all restaurants in Hong Kong, it is inevitable that people will suspect that a number of senior officials are still arrogantly arranging public expectations management in such a tense moment, and plan to gradually introduce the apparently old Prepared anti-epidemic measures early.
The dean of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong, Liang Zhuowei, warned earlier in an interview with the TV station: "All effective measures should be done now at this time, because if we see that the epidemic has developed more severely, we have already lag behind by 10 to 14 days. At that time, it will be out of control. Even if all Hong Kong becomes a dead city, there will be no one on the street, your medical system will face a collapse, and it will be too late by then. If we quarrel again, tell us There is a basket of measures, we already have a few hands to prepare, and then each measure will be done slowly at that time. It may not necessarily be able to cope with the epidemic that changes every day and every hour, because the spread rate of the virus is not equal to others. We will not wait for the meeting. We have to take effective measures decisively and immediately. In addition, when we see a downward trend in the immediate reproduction rate of the epidemic, we will also resolutely withdraw these more stringent measures. "
The various anti-epidemic loopholes exposed during the implementation of the "Polymergence Restriction Order" in the past two weeks are actually a microcosm of the long-standing pitfalls of the Hong Kong governance team and government agencies; "science-based" and "rapid response" are just slogans. But still I continue to follow the daily attitude of governance. As the number of confirmed cases of new coronary pneumonia in Hong Kong and the world continues to increase, the SAR Government must effectively achieve scientific anti-epidemic and respect expert opinions, and a number of officials and civil servants cannot attach too much importance to the setting of clear standards, improve the efficiency of law enforcement and conduct, as they have done in the past. Expect management and other miscellaneous matters. At the same time, we should avoid recurring daily laziness, frequent thoughts, sloppy writing, and daily changes during the rush to work. Otherwise, Hong Kong may be really caught in the "scramble" situation.
The above excerpt is from the 208th issue of "Hong Kong 01" Weekly Newsletter (April 6, 2020) "Deconstruction of" Polymerization Order "Chaos Why Hong Kong's Epidemic Prevention Vulnerability Appears"
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