After returning to Hong Kong at the beginning of the month, the three Cathay Pacific freighter pilots confirmed that the confirmed variant of the new crown virus was in home quarantine at the moment and had gone out, increasing the risk of community transmission. Cathay Pacific announced that it would increase the crew members’ exemption from activities during the quarantine period on Wednesday (17th).
However, the new measures have not completely plugged the loopholes in the spread of the epidemic. The government still has room to tighten the crew quarantine measures and is determined to completely prevent imports.
The pilot was diagnosed during the home quarantine, and the community is concerned that the process of discussing customs clearance between Hong Kong and the Mainland has been blocked.
Even though Chief Executive Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor responded to the discussion on Tuesday (16th) with no impact, the epidemic situation in Europe and the United States has rebounded, and the chance of the virus flowing into the community through quarantine-free crew members returning to Hong Kong has increased.
The government needs to tighten its quarantine exemption measures to prevent similar cases from recurring, and to avoid impending customs clearance.
For society, the most ideal crew quarantine arrangement is to be quarantined at a hotel for at least 14 days, and the government’s entry quarantine arrangement has already prepared a clause that “must be self-quarantined at a designated quarantine hotel”, but the length is “according to their vaccination” Records and the risk of the area where you have stayed before arriving in Hong Kong."
In other words, the crew may actually be exempt from quarantine.
Cathay Pacific requires exemption from quarantine for crew members who must stay home for the first three days after returning to Hong Kong.
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There are still loopholes in Cathay Pacific's new arrangements
Lam Cheng said on Tuesday that there cannot be no special arrangements for the cargo crew, otherwise it will affect the operation of the society.
The outside world has never known how serious the hotel quarantine hinders the crew on duty. Even if it is not feasible, quarantine arrangements must try to minimize the risk of transmission.
The new quarantine measures for employees implemented by Cathay Pacific on Wednesday are indeed stricter than in the past, but they are not as hard as they can.
Under the new quarantine arrangement, the crew members can only leave home for a maximum of two hours per day for the first three days after returning to Hong Kong. Activities that can go out include shopping for essentials, exercise alone, testing, and seeking medical treatment. They must record their whereabouts by themselves and avoid participating in all gatherings.
During the remaining quarantine period, it is also necessary to avoid participating in unnecessary social gatherings.
In addition, the movement restrictions for the crew of outstations will increase, such as not passing through duty-free shops and special stores, taking the company-arranged transportation to and from the hotel, isolating in the hotel alone and staying in the hotel room to eat.
As Xu Shuchang, a government expert adviser, pointed out a few days ago, the incubation period of the global Delta variant virus is about four and a half days.
In other words, if the crew members were only infected before their return trip, they might still develop symptoms and infect family members three days after arriving in Hong Kong, let alone spread the virus in the community within two hours of being away from home.
Carrie Lam said on November 16 that Cathay Pacific’s new quarantine arrangements for the crew were "a detailed discussion between the Transport and Housing Bureau and Cathay Pacific Airways in the past few days. It is not just an airline that handles it by itself."
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"Goods are like rotating goods" also rely on customs clearance and zero clearance
Lam Cheng responded that the new quarantine measures were "done through detailed discussions between the Transport and Housing Bureau and Cathay Pacific in the past few days. They are not handled by an airline alone." However, as Xu Shuchang and another Hong Kong university scholar He Boliang suggested seven days of quarantine. Quarantine can cover the incubation period without causing shortage of manpower in the company and long-term separation of employees from their families. The effectiveness of epidemic prevention is more reliable.
In fact, the mainland authorities have also implemented centralized quarantine on crew members, while still having a certain degree of flexibility. The Hong Kong government and airlines can also learn from this.
The eighth edition of the "Technical Guidelines for the Prevention and Control of Epidemics for Transport Airlines" distinguishes in detail the quarantine arrangements for passenger and cargo transportation, regional international and overnight stays, so as to prevent all crew members from obstructing the company's operations due to isolation.
For example, overnight passenger crew members must be quarantined for 14 days and health monitoring for seven days, but they can resume duty on the seventh day after entering the country.
Overnight cargo crew members can continue to perform cargo flights if they test negative during isolation, and can perform passenger flights after the seventh day of entry.
This will help shorten the crew rotation time.
When a foreign country decides to co-exist with the new crown virus, the Hong Kong government must strictly control the entry and quarantine to prevent the virus from spreading in the community.
Although the Hong Kong government wants Hong Kong to maintain the smooth flow of air cargo, it is important to remember that customs clearance with the Mainland is the key to the sustained growth of the local economy and cross-border traffic.
Cathay Pacific’s newly implemented crew quarantine arrangements are not yet complete, and officials must take action to correct them so as not to miss any more cases and make customs clearance indefinitely.
Under this premise, it makes sense for the government to discuss the number of isolation days and manpower allocation with Cathay Pacific and other airlines.
Aircrew exemption from quarantine must be reviewed. Cancellation of quarantine exemption is just the first step for customs clearance. Tightening of exemption from quarantine is justified. Supporting work must also be done.
