editorial
Written by: Hong Kong 01
2021-02-01 06:00
Last update date: 2021-02-01 06:00
Last Wednesday (January 27), President Xi Jinping bluntly stated that he was "very concerned and worried" about the fourth wave of the epidemic in Hong Kong during a video conference with Chief Executive Carrie Lam.
Looking around the four places across the strait, Macau has been cleared for more than 300 days. The epidemics in Taiwan and the mainland have been largely under control. People's work and travel have not been affected. Only Hong Kong has repeated repeated episodes. The fourth wave of epidemics has been lingering for nearly two months and has not been seen. There is a tendency to fade.
In addition to the ineffective epidemic prevention measures, the root cause lies in the failure of the Hong Kong government to realize that this is not only a medical epidemic, but also an epidemic of social injustice.
In a video conference with Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, President Xi Jinping bluntly stated that he was "very concerned and worried" about the fourth wave of the epidemic in Hong Kong.
(Xinhua News Agency)
Whether everyone is equal before the disease has become a question that has lingered in people's minds since the outbreak of the new crown epidemic a year ago.
A study by Johns Hopkins University in the United States showed that, compared with the 0.23% of whites, the proportion of new coronary pneumonia infections in the United States was 0.73% and 0.62%, respectively.
In Hong Kong, although there have been confirmed cases from time to time in luxury residential areas such as Bel-Air and Mid-Levels, Yau Ma Tei and Jordan have apparently more concentrated cases and more serious epidemics, and they have even become the first areas in Hong Kong to be closed for testing.
Faced with the difference in the proportion of different ethnic groups in the United States infected with new coronary pneumonia, some people believe that it is because of the poor awareness of health and epidemic prevention among African Americans and "make their own decisions."
Similar remarks have also appeared in Hong Kong. There are many comments on the Internet that the Jordanian minorities do not pay attention to hygiene, lack of awareness of epidemic prevention, and even false accusations that "(South Asian people) will not take the initiative to test" have even been unreasonably rejected Delivery of South Asian takeaways.
How biased these comments are can be seen from objective data.
According to the economic statistics of the United States in 2019, the overall poverty rate of the African-American population was 18.7%, while that of whites was 7.3%. This gap was widened in the age group under 18 years old, 25.6% of African-Americans and only 8.3% of whites.
Wealth inequality that has started since childhood has created gaps in education and health.
In the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the most direct example is that African-American and Latino families have to live together for multiple generations because of poverty, and because of their livelihood, they have to go out to work, which increases the chance of infection.
In other words, social injustices in wealth, education, medical care, and employment have increased the objective probability of the grassroots population being exposed to the infection environment. This is by no means a gap that can be filled by increasing individual awareness of epidemic prevention.
There are many comments on the Internet that the minorities in Jordan do not pay attention to hygiene, lack of awareness of epidemic prevention, and even false accusations that "(South Asian people) will not take the initiative to test."
(Profile picture / Photo by Liang Pengwei)
Not everyone is equal before the epidemic
Similarly, Jordan’s closure of the area appears to be due to the lack of timely mandatory testing by the government in the early stages and insufficient testing coverage, but in fact, the population composition of the area and its community environment have long made it "innately insufficient" for epidemic prevention.
In the early days of the outbreak in Jordan, many of the confirmed residents were either workers from the Blue Tunnel site, the Central Kowloon Route Group, or their relatives and friends.
This just shows that due to the large grassroots population in this area, most of them are engaged in construction, catering, etc., making it difficult to work from home, increasing the risk of infection.
At the same time, grassroots workers or materials are poor, or busy, or have a low level of education, and may not have enough materials and information to meet the needs of epidemic prevention.
On the other hand, there are many tenement houses in this area, and there are many subordinate houses, which increases the chance of cross infection.
For example, No. 26 Xin Reclamation Street, where the cases are more concentrated, is an old-fashioned building over 60 years old. The neighboring buildings 20 to 24 are also old-fashioned tenement buildings. The space is crowded and lacks management. The staircase is so full of debris that the residents of Buildings 20 to 26 share the same staircase exit.
He Juye, the former president of the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors, pointed out that anti-siphon pipes may not be installed on each floor of the sewers in Building 26, and the water seals may fail during toilet flushing. Residents not only need to endure the odor from time to time, but also do not rule out the passage of viruses. Pipe into the house.
It can be seen that the internal space of the old building is small, inconvenient for ventilation, and the proportion of shared facilities is high. In addition, many pipes and channels do not meet the hygienic standards, which increases the risk of transmission. It cannot be resisted by residents who wash their hands frequently and maintain social distance.
Due to the unfair distribution of social resources, the grassroots have to face a greater risk of infection. This is what we said that everyone is not equal before the epidemic.
On the surface, Jordan’s closure of the area seems to be due to the lack of timely mandatory testing by the government and insufficient testing coverage. However, in fact, the population composition of the area and its community environment have long made it "innately insufficient" for epidemic prevention.
(Data Picture/Photo by Gao Zhongming)
Of course, we can deal with these issues from the perspective of public health governance, such as strengthening compulsory testing or even closing the area for testing.
However, if epidemic prevention can only be understood from a medical perspective, and cannot understand the social structure problems that cause different groups to be infected with the epidemic, then the effectiveness and pertinence of public epidemic prevention measures will eventually be limited.
Because of the disadvantaged epidemic prevention dilemma caused by uneven social resources, it is not the citizens who can contend with their own strength.
It's like the government has repeatedly tightened social distancing restrictions in public places, but when citizens go home from get off work, the narrow, airtight, and unqualified canals of the tenement buildings make social distancing restrictions fall short.
This is why the epidemic prevention clearly requires the cooperation of the government and the people, and we have repeatedly emphasized the role of the government.
Because social injustice has caused some groups to be vulnerable or even ineffective in epidemic prevention, the only way to cure the disease can be through the government's "secondary distribution" to reverse the structural injustice.
However, the Hong Kong government is obviously not aware of the social problems hidden behind the epidemic.
Last Wednesday, Carrie Lam released the "Summary of Experience in Anti-epidemic One Year". Although it was called a summary of experience, it only stayed at the summary statement. It rarely reflected the loopholes in the epidemic prevention measures, let alone understood that the contradictions in the social structure are the fuel catalyzing the epidemic.
The Hong Kong government not only lacks the courage of "secondary distribution" on weekdays, it has not solved the problems of land, housing, and retirement protection, and it has also failed to balance the interests of all parties in the epidemic prevention.
Take Jordan’s closed area as an example. When there are residents in restricted areas that may be deducted from labor, the government, apart from appealing to employers to be considerate, has no substantive regulation or assistance. Obviously, there is no balance between grassroots employees and employers in this compulsory measure. The impact.
The Hong Kong government is obviously not aware of the social problems hidden behind the epidemic.
(Data Picture/Photo by Gao Zhongming)
Major damages at the grassroots level aggravate social injustice
The government is not aware of the social injustice behind the epidemic, so it is difficult to achieve precise and efficient epidemic prevention, and in turn, the social structure problems are aggravated as the epidemic spreads.
Last Monday (January 25), the international charity Oxfam issued a report stating that both the rich and the poor are heading in different directions whether it is the speed of making up for the loss of the epidemic or the increase or decrease of wealth under the epidemic.
The world’s 1,000 richest people took only nine months to make up for all losses during the epidemic, but it may take more than ten years for the poorest population to recover.
When unemployment rates are rising sharply around the world, the combined wealth of global billionaires from March to December last year has skyrocketed by US$3.9 trillion.
Obviously, the grassroots are more likely to be affected by the epidemic than white-collar workers and wealthy people.
Taking working from home as an example, it is difficult for grassroots sites and catering industries to work from home, which also makes these industries have a higher unemployment rate during the epidemic than industries with flexible office locations.
Among the latest government unemployment rates from October to December 2020, the unemployment rate for "retail, accommodation and catering services" is 10.6%, the unemployment rate for "catering services" is 13.8%, and "Construction: Building Decoration, Repair and Maintenance" The unemployment rate is as high as 14.6%, which is much higher than the overall average of 6.6%.
The government ignores the plight of the grassroots in epidemic prevention, such as it is difficult to work from home at work, lack of financial risk resistance, and the housing environment is more prone to spreading drugs, not to mention providing practical employment security, economic assistance or housing improvement and resettlement for the plight of grassroots Measures etc.
On the one hand, accumulating dissatisfaction among the people makes it difficult to unite society and fight the epidemic together; on the other hand, this kind of "indulgence" will affect the health of the social structure in the long run and its resistance to natural and man-made disasters in the future.
However, in contrast to Oxfam's call for local governments to consciously "secondary distribution" through fairer tax policies and other methods, the Hong Kong government has no such vision.
Faced with the unemployment rate that will rise next month after the epidemic, the government only introduced a "safeguarding job" plan that is full of loopholes and is regarded as favoring employers. Although the government holds a fiscal reserve of 100 billion yuan, it firmly refuses to provide unemployment assistance. When the grassroots reach the end of the poverty line, they receive CSSA to "hang their lives."
After the outbreak of the epidemic for more than a year, after the initial panic and panic, we must calm down and think about the problems in the past and the challenges in the future.
Behind the repeated epidemics in Hong Kong is certainly related to the lack of epidemic prevention measures. However, why is the formulation of epidemic prevention measures still full of loopholes after a year?
Behind this is the blind zone of government thinking.
They did not realize that the epidemic was only a catalyst, allowing the poverty, discrimination, housing and other social problems that were hidden in the past to be brought to the attention of everyone.
In the short term, the government’s anti-epidemic measures need to give more consideration to the needs of the grassroots, such as thinking about how to protect the livelihoods of the grassroots so that they can fight the epidemic at home with peace of mind; another example is whether the government can provide subsidies for grass-roots epidemic prevention materials; Improve all the old pipes within the time limit. If not, can you find another place to temporarily house the residents of the sub-houses?
In the long run, the government must reverse the thinking of "small government" and strengthen the awareness of "secondary distribution". It must release brownfields and agricultural land to solve the housing problem, and establish a universal retirement protection system to provide for the elderly.
Only when society becomes more fair can it be more stable and able to withstand the test of natural and man-made disasters.
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