The Secretary for Food and Health, Sophia Chan, appeared on a radio program on Monday (28th), changing the statement made last week by Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor that "it is unrealistic to stay in the house during the compulsory inspection of the whole people", saying that "the government does not rule out the imposition of a house arrest order at this time."
After the news came out, many citizens could not wait to rush to the supermarket to buy supplies, fearing that the government would impose a ban on foot and city in the short term.
And some false news even pointed out that supermarkets and other stores will be closed in a few days, so the situation of panic buying of grain, oil and food products in some supermarkets is even more serious.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam released a pre-recorded video on the afternoon of the same day, calling on the public to "fully cooperate to make the anti-epidemic work more effective."
Even if the government issued a press release in the evening, the content only pointed out that "fresh and live food, including chilled meat, aquatic products, vegetables, etc., are available every day, and the supply is stable", calling on "the public do not need to hoard food."
This time, Secretary Chen Zhaoshi's piecemeal statement that "the government will not rule out the imposition of a grounding order" has caused the whole society to panic and rush to buy supplies.
Even after the news was reported by the media, there was still no major official to give more details. The attitude of this kind of information release is indeed worthy of social discussion.
The lockdown measures involve a wide range of
information, how can it be casual
This is not the first time that the situation has been circulated as if it were a lockdown measure.
The government's policy of compulsory public inspection was previously reported by the media first, but after the news came out, the government maintained a non-committal attitude. In the end, the public could only get fragmented and uncertain information.
Epidemic prevention measures affect the operation of the entire society. Citizens want a clear direction to prepare early, and their ideas are understandable.
Government officials must take into account the psychological and emotional state of the public when distributing information.
Due to the living environment, each family may have to allocate different daily food and necessary materials. Restaurant merchants who have been suffering from the epidemic also want to know whether they should make preparations earlier at this stage if takeout is banned. , can at least reduce the waste of some food costs.
Regardless of the current social concern about the "foot-blocking measures" or the government's earlier announcement of "mandatory inspections", the media first obtained the news and released it, but after the news came out, the government maintained a non-committal attitude, making people question whether the government is Can lead the dissemination effort more proactively (file photo)
In the case of lockdown measures, the government may still be planning content.
The Secretary for Innovation and Technology, Xue Yongheng, said on a radio program on Tuesday (1st) that if the government imposes a city closure, relevant information on epidemic prevention and anti-epidemic will be distributed in an orderly manner, describing some of the news as "no possibility".
However, if officials do not clarify what is unlikely and what is more likely, how can it be called an orderly distribution of information?
Officials can clearly convey to the society the direction the government is thinking about, and explain some principles and even some of the content that has been determined.
This not only allows all walks of life to understand how to adapt, but also makes the public more at ease.
What's more, the ban is a major policy. It should not just be disclosed by the Secretary on the radio program, or "released" through government information. The public will only feel fragmented and at a loss from the perspective of receiving it.
It is especially important to release information on
fighting against the epidemic, such as marching and fighting
Carrie Lam has repeatedly described the current situation as being like a marching war. If Carrie Lam described that Hong Kong is fighting a hard battle against the virus, and the citizens are cooperating with the government's orders to carry out their tasks, the message at this time should be clear and unmistakable, so that all Hong Kong and Hong Kong can all unite to fight the epidemic.
If the information is fragmented, it will only cause chaos and panic among many citizens.
Many restaurants or businesses have announced their closure earlier in recent days, probably because they are not clear about future policies, and they are afraid of falling into a dilemma.
At present, most of the information related to the epidemic relies on the release of information at the press conference on the epidemic held by the Centre for Health Protection every afternoon. Can the government have a press conference at a designated time every day for the Chief Executive, the Chief Secretary for Administration or others? Can the director of a specific project meet with the media regularly to share the latest progress or ideas on the anti-epidemic work?
(joint interview)
Apart from calling on the public to cooperate, there are actually many ways to help the public keep abreast of policy changes.
In terms of the mechanism for reviewing the release of information, at present, most of the information related to the epidemic is released at the epidemic press conference held by the Center for Health Protection every afternoon, but there are no decision-making officials among them, so it is difficult to explain the policy direction.
Can the government hold regular press conferences to allow the secretaries who lead specific projects, or even the chief executive himself, to give a unified account of the latest progress or thoughts on the anti-epidemic work?
The development of the current epidemic is changing rapidly, and the society is eager to know how to cooperate with the government in the critical time in the next few weeks.
And while Hong Kong is still shrouded in anxiety about the epidemic, the SAR government should be more visible to the public, so as to relieve the public's doubts as soon as possible, and let the public know that everything is still under the control of the government.
As long as the government understands the anxiety of the public, the problem will be solved naturally.
National testing will be carried out with thorough details to avoid confusion, "safe travel" to increase rather than reduce functions
