01 perspective
Written by: Comment Editor
2020-01-26 16:35
Last updated: 2020-01-26 16:43The new menace of pneumonia has caused Hong Kong society to lose its festive atmosphere in this Chinese New Year, and instead, it is anxiety and complaints. As of last Saturday (January 25), at least five new pneumonia cases have been confirmed in Hong Kong. Social anxiety is spreading in Hong Kong and even outbreaks in the community. The demand for "sealing off" is growing, and even medical staff are considering strikes. The epidemic is ruthless, and the virus is invisible. However, to succeed in fighting the epidemic, different members of society need to maintain their own standards and do their part. If they protest emotionally, they will be counterproductive. However, the epidemic has not yet broken out in the community, and people's grievances are the first to bear it. It also warns the government to realize that the crisis is imminent.
The call for strikes has been raging recently, and the focus of the dispute lies on requiring the government to completely block the border with the mainland. Wuhan pneumonia continues to spread in different cities in the Mainland. Liang Zhuowei, the dean of the University of Hong Kong Medical College, analyzed that the largest outbreak and SARS occurred in almost 100% of SARS patients. However, Wuhan pneumonia has many cases of invisible or mild symptoms. It may not be conscious to seek medical treatment, and disguise increases the risk of transmission. Therefore, from a purely preventive perspective, blocking the flow of population is the most direct way to prevent the spread of the virus.
"Seal customs" cannot be generalized
However, there are many ways to prevent epidemics from entering the country. "Customs clearance" is one of them, but it is not the only one. In addition, "customs clearance" can have different degrees, cut off the population exchanges in individual provinces and cities, and prohibit the entry of all populations in the Mainland, to a completely different degree. As Liang Zhuowei pointed out, the best practice of "customs clearance" is to completely ban any entry and exit in Hong Kong, not just for a specific place or certain tourists; but he also added that he and other local experts such as Yuan Guoyong, Xu Shuchang and foreign experts They all agree that "customs clearance" is not the correct strategy for Hong Kong, nor is it feasible.
Pneumonia in Wuhan continued to spread, and Hong Kong people snapped up masks to protect themselves. (Profile picture)
Therefore, when we discuss immunization against immigration, we cannot simplify it to "seal" or not, but we must ask to what extent. As a matter of fact, many measures taken by the Mainland to deal with the epidemic in recent days have been to "block" the "epidemic", such as stopping tour groups nationwide, and Beijing to stop inter-provincial passenger transport services from today (26th), and so on. Recently, Hong Kong also has some similar and extraordinary measures. For example, the tourism industry has suspended mainland tours and the closure of two major theme parks.
"An epidemic prevention policy can only be based on science, and other considerations, including politics, must be discarded." Liang Zhuowei answered this when asked whether he should "close." However, what is "politics"? If it is rumored, the SAR Government is afraid of affecting relations with the Mainland. Of course, such "political" considerations cannot exist, and they will cause trouble at any time. On the other hand, the government is cautious in responding to the "seal", apparently because in the current highly politicized Hong Kong society, this oversimplified statement contains sensitive political implications. The complexity of trying to launch a strike to force the government to "close customs" lies in this. On the one hand, the government's indecision on the issue of epidemic prevention has caused the society to worry about the gap in epidemic prevention. On the other hand, when the strikers borrowed the concept and demanded "response to the five major appeals", coupled with the strong local political parties and district councillors, this undoubtedly made the discussion on "sealing customs" out of hand.
Strike does no good to society
Medical personnel are shouldering heavy responsibilities, especially now that winter flu and new pneumonia threaten the health of the public, medical personnel are indispensable. Once a strike in the medical care sector affects the operation of medical services, it will be absolutely harmless and will also damage its own professionalism. It will be extremely regrettable. For the benefit of the general public, I believe no one wants to see this happen.
Countries around the world have stepped up precautions to prevent the spread of new coronaviruses. Among them, in Seoul, South Korea, a staff member disinfected the train compartment. (AP)
Fighting the epidemic requires society to work together and should not be "politicized." Excluding this consideration, for the government, entry prevention is actually a scientific issue as well as a political issue. In terms of science, allowing populations to continue to flow requires a professional and scientific risk calculation of how likely it is to cause an outbreak in the community. On the other hand, whether the society can afford the social inconvenience caused by immigration control or traffic interruption is a "political" judgment. That is, for example, is it necessary to reduce one-hundredth of the risk of an outbreak and cause heavy social inconvenience, how can this not be a "political" consideration? Therefore, when the reporter asked why he did not close the customs, Lin Zhengyue didn't answer, but asked Liang Zhuowei to answer, which reflected that she had intentionally or unintentionally reduced the issue to a purely scientific nature, and had forgotten how to balance her as chief executive All needs and trade-offs are entirely their political responsibility.
Needless to say, the most comprehensive "seizure" and the islanding of Hong Kong is beyond the actual need, but it is also impractical. At present, the government has interrupted its population exchanges with Wuhan, but it is not unclear whether this level of customs clearance is sufficient. Because new pneumonia has spread in the Mainland, more than 1,300 cases were confirmed by Saturday night, almost half of which were outside Hubei Province, especially in Guangdong Province, Beijing, Shanghai and other places. Based on the latest data, the government must assess the number of people infected and the risk of transmission in provinces and cities outside Wuhan, and appropriately suspend traffic in some serious areas to reduce the risk of the epidemic entering Hong Kong. In addition, there are four speculations in the field, which are full of suspicion about the Lin Zheng government. The authorities must explain the rules of epidemic prevention measures to the society in order to eliminate doubts.
No let the epidemic become a political crisis
In the final analysis, the call for "customs clearance" in society shows that the government is faced with the threat of new pneumonia, the epidemic prevention work is insufficient, and the performance of officials has failed to give the public confidence. For example, during the visit of Chief Executive Lin Zheng Yue'e to Switzerland, the acting Zhang Jianzong refused to require high-speed rail passengers to declare health on the grounds of crowds of people. Therefore, the government must face up to the worries of medical staff and the public, actively coordinate and communicate with the medical care community, step up immigration prevention, and avoid strikes.
The government announced that the emergency response level should be raised to respond to the pneumonia epidemic in Wuhan. (Photo by Liang Pengwei)
For a politician, everything is "political." Even if it is an epidemic or natural disaster, it seems that it is caused by non-government, but once the response is not good, society will naturally point the finger at the government. New pneumonia is likely to erupt in communities in Hong Kong, and public grievances caused by the epidemic may also be caused by wind. Lin Zheng must not neglect. Last Saturday, Lin Zheng led officials and professors to the press conference, which caused criticism from the public for not wearing a mask. Although wearing a mask may affect the look and feel, and it is not necessary for this occasion, officials wear the mask to remind the public and increase health awareness. As long as Lin Zheng wears a mask to show people and demonstrate how to properly remove and retract the mask before speaking, he can do more. If Yiye knows autumn, this little thing either reflects his lack of political wisdom or underestimates his political crisis—or both.
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