🌊One Voice - one opinion - one COVID

Monkeypox isolation facility opening soon

Harbour Times

Sep 12

Good morning,

I almost got the cops called on me after sleeping till 2pm (told you I write Tide at hospitable hours).

The PCR testing people were not amused at me crawling out of bed only when they almost knocked the door down.

Anyway, out of jail in a few hours!

— Cyril

On Today’s Tide

COVID & Politics |
- Government officials told to give one COVID front
- Singapore is ‘lying flat’ says Ko Wing-Man
- Dr Ho says ‘scrap compulsory testing’
Weather | The air still wants to kill you
Events

Behind the paywall:

COVID & Economy |
- Sai Kung Recreation Camp becomes Monkeypox isolation campe; restaurant loses $100,000 without compensation
- ‘Worst day of last year better than best of this year’ - Brands Expo
Society | Lines paying tribute to Queen Liz stretch out of Admiralty

Become a premium subscriber for just $8US a month – extra daily news and weekend roundups!

One people, one COVID

Insiders on the government’s COVID-19 Expert Advisory Panel have been warned against speaking out against the official government line of dynamic zero, said an SCMP article quoting anonymous government insiders.

This comes after Former health minister Ko Wing-Man, now a member of ExCo, said last Sunday that public figures should avoid creating conflicting statements which could confuse the public.

The current Panel, which first convened in July are

Professor David Hui
Professor Ivan Hung
Professor Lau Chak-sing
Professor Lau Yu-lung
Professor Gabriel Leung
Professor Yuen Kwok-yung

Although the government sticks to reducing infection numbers at all costs, many other countries have moved towards endemicity. Over summer, two of the advisors Professors Yuen and Hung authored a peer reviewed article saying that we should have a policy shift towards loosening COVID regulations.

However, Health Sec Lo Chung-Mau and Professor Ko disagreed with the suggestion.

The government’s current policy is to reduce numbers to ensure death rates don’t go up, and to protect the hospitals from becoming overwhelmed with COVID cases, but balance it with allowing freedom to live relatively normally.

To this end, the government recently stopped requiring arrivals at the airport from requiring their temperature taken.

I did however have to measure my temperature as soon as I got to my quarantine hotel half an hour later anyway….

Singapore needs to stand up

Professor Ko also made a statement saying that Singapore’s ‘hybrid immunity’ and move towards endemicity is ‘lying flat’ - meaning that they’re not doing anything to protect the Singaporean population from catching and dying of COVID.

Ko’s primary reason for disagreeing with Yuen and Hung’s suggestion is that COVID remains unstable, and a new variant could soon pop up with more infectivity. He said we should avoid “painting a rosy picture” of the pandemic which may lead to lower vax rates.

Current statistics show Singapore has having (as of Sunday 11th)

New cases: 1440
Total cases: 1,859,937
New deaths: 0
Total deaths: 1602

While Hong Kong has (as of yesterday 12th)

New cases: 7772
Total cases: 1,659,912
New deaths: 11
Total deaths: 9810

I’m aware that these are raw numbers, I’ll go do the ratio numbers later.

Hong Kong SAR Government News @newsgovhk

The Govt completes a joint enforcement operation at Sorrento Tower 1 in Tsim Sha Tsui, which was earlier included in a compulsory testing notice #COVID19

news.gov.hkTesting records checkedThe Government completes a joint enforcement operation at Sorrento Tower 1 in Tsim Sha Tsui, which was earlier included in a compulsory testing notice.

Professor Ho Pak-Leung, who is not a member of the Panel said yesterday (probably without full panel consultation) that the government should get rid of Compulsory Testing Orders after finding multiple cases in residential buildings or viral samples in the sewers.

Ho argued that as the government now allows home quarantine for positive cases (subject to strict criteria), there is bound to be viral remains in sewage and some level of horizontal and verticle transmission.

“If you on the one hand accept this policy but on the other hand continue to issue compulsory testing notices, the policies are contradictory to each other” said Ho, “the policies have to be logical”

Pollution remains very bad

In a slightly rare continued warning, the HKO said that yesterday’s pollution levels reached ‘Serious’ level, and that the dry spell and heightened levels of pollution will now likely remain till the 18th.

Remind yourself of the details on yesterday’s High Tide:

High Tide

🌊Under-15 suicide rates go up 89%

Good morning. Hello friends. Guess who’s back doing Tide at inhospital hours. That’s right! It’s me. I’m back in the HKG where fresh air is apparently a health risk! — Cyril On Today’s Tide Environment | The pollution is very bad COVID | COVID might be peaking…

23 days ago · Harbour Times

Events and deals

Support Harbour Times, our friends and partners by attending these events! Let everyone know who sent you by tagging @harbourtimes

Official media partner: ReThink HK returns 5-6 Oct
Sign up here using the code HTP22.

HT is proud to once again be a media partner for ReThink - HK’s biggest and most exciting sustainability conference. This year’s conference invites more than 300 expert speakers to share their visions and insights, covering important topics like economic progression while coexisting with nature harmoniously, efficient use of resources, transformation to a low-carbon society, and circular economy for future generations.

Ukrainian Cinema: Contemporary filmmaking @ The Goethe Institut

“Fear sows political bigotry, rumours turn into conspiracy theories, cultural fronts harden” – for these reasons The Goethe Institut is hosting a series of films by Ukrainian filmmakers to support local cultural creators and explore Ukrainian culture together.

Five films will be shown over the course of September including The Tribe (Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy), Atlantis (Valentyn Vasyanovych) and The Rain Will Never Stop (Alina Gorlova)

Find all times and dates here.
And book your tickets directly from Broadway Cinematheque here.
Look under the ‘bc Sunday’ special programme when booking!