Learning from the experience of Kwai Chung Village, home quarantine can no longer be chaotic

The new crown virus spread in Kwai Chung Village. On Monday (24th), 109 newly confirmed cases were initially confirmed, among which Yat Kwai House and Ying Kwai House accounted for 60 cases.

Although the government has no intention to add more buildings to the home quarantine list, as the epidemic spreads, both the government and the public should be prepared to do so.

The government must review the causes of the chaos in the implementation of home quarantine in the Yat Kwai and Ying Kwai buildings and improve the arrangement.

The government implemented a five-day home quarantine in order to identify the infected residents as soon as possible and cut off the transmission chain of Yikuilou.

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However, until Sunday (23rd), the third day of the operation, some residents still reported that they had not been notified for testing, the family members of the confirmed cases were delayed in being sent to the hospital, and the support staff inaccurately explained the testing time, resulting in residents often taking elevators and in the lobby. Gather, increase the chance of virus transmission.

Furthermore, the government's arrangements to support home quarantine are also incoherent. There was no dinner for the first night of home quarantine in Ying Kui Building, and there was no answer to the hotline at Yat Kui Building.

Information dissemination, departmental communication, and material arrangement are chaotic

The government has mobilized more than 1,800 people from more than a dozen government departments, but as long as there is no effective central coordination, no amount will be useful.

The Home Affairs Bureau and District District Officers, who are on the front line of the fight against the epidemic, must be held accountable, and the Housing Department, which manages housing estate affairs, must also be held accountable.

The civil affairs department should assist the testing contractor and request the Housing Department to arrange for residents to test in an orderly manner. The Housing Department should be responsible for distributing information in a unified manner, collecting the special needs of each household, and then reporting it to the Civil Affairs Department and the medical and nursing department for follow-up.

On January 23, 2022, both Yat Kwai House and Ying Kwai House in Kwai Chung Village had to be fenced off for five days, and many police cars were parked in the area of ​​Kwai Chung Village.

(Photo by Zheng Zifeng)

Does the omission of official support also reveal a lack of contact with regional organizations and people?

Of course, Kwai Chung Village's current district councillors are vacant, and officials lack a point of communication between officials and the people.

The regional representative may not be able to change, but have the officials contacted the various mutual committees in the village?

A few days ago, Legislative Council member Chen Hengpin said that he and several representatives of the mutual committee asked the authorities to set up a testing station in the village.

The purpose of the government's establishment of the mutual committee is to promote communication between the government and the people, improve the management of housing estates and help neighbors.

Did officials take the opportunity to invite them to help collect household needs?

Or is it because the government is determined to disband these grassroots organizations and simply does not ask them to participate in support?

Although Omicron infected patients are relatively mild, they are still quite lethal to the infirm and unvaccinated. Yuan Guoyong estimates that it will take two or three months for Hong Kong to control the epidemic.

The government and the public should also be prepared psychologically and practically. The cases of multiple infections in residential buildings requiring home isolation will not be limited to two buildings, but may also occur in other buildings in Kwai Chung Village and other districts.

Residents of Yat Kwai Building must not go out in their residences until 7:00 a.m. on January 26 according to restrictions and inspections.

Some residents of Yikui Building watched the situation outside from the window.

(Photo by Zhang Haowei)

Join local groups to participate in anti-epidemic work

In the next few days, the government should take the initiative. When there are many preliminary positive cases in buildings or housing estates, it will ask the Home Affairs Commissioner to contact district councillors, mutual committees, owners' committees, owners' corporations and other local organizations to remind the other side of the building. It is necessary to strengthen hygiene, to know whether the protective equipment of the cleaners is sufficient, and to invite them to firstly find out what residents of the building have special needs, and provide special support to the government in case of home isolation.

On the other hand, the government also needs to produce a media campaign to reassure citizens that they do not need to be overly anxious about home quarantine, explain various government support measures, and remind citizens to check whether they have basic sanitary equipment at home, so as to prevent residents from infecting each other while protecting themselves.

Home isolation has always been part of the government's response to the epidemic. In the past few days, people in Hong Kong have also witnessed the poor co-ordination ability of officials. Residents in Kwai Chung Village feel deeply.

The actions of Kwai Chung Village reflect the urgent need for improvement in the government's district governance.

Officials and front-line support staff must communicate closely and work together to distribute accurate and consistent information to residents. They must also make good use of the liaison and mobilization capabilities of local representatives such as the Public Housing Mutual Council to help collect residents' opinions and needs.

Especially since the fifth wave has not yet ended, the government must correct mistakes, big and small, so as not to repeat mistakes in the future and cause more people to suffer.

Epidemic prevention reflects different governance capabilities. Early-order anti-epidemic measures can help academia and industry prepare in advance. Universal self-testing can speed up the search for confirmed cases in the community.