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Coronavirus Hong Kong
OpinionComment
Paul Zimmerman
Paul Zimmerman

Opinion | ‘Dynamic living with Covid’ is the policy Hong Kong should be pursuing

  • The soaring infection rate has made a return to zero cases impossible. Attempting it is costing the economy, yet to ‘let rip’ would endanger many more lives
  • The solution is a flexible Covid-19 policy that allows maximum freedom for the general population while protecting the vulnerable

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Residents queue in the rain for Covid-19 testing at a temporary centre on February 21. Hong Kong will carry out citywide testing in March as it introduces new tougher social distancing measures. Photo: AP
Paul Zimmerman

Whether it is possible to eradicate Covid-19 is, for now, a hypothetical question. While we should not dismiss the possibility in the years ahead, an international expert review of the feasibility and desirability of attempting Covid-19 eradication has yet to shape up.

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Today, by hook or by crook, most of the world is accepting that Covid will become endemic. One by one countries are opening up, removing constraints on their economy, travel and social life, while accepting that Covid-19 infections continue.

They are emboldened by the relative mild health impacts of Omicron over previous Covid-19 variants. They are helped by high rates of vaccinations. The question for all in China is when to pivot our own pandemic strategies.

“Zero-Covid” served Hong Kong well when the world was getting to grips with the pandemic. We avoided the scary scenes of lockdowns in Wuhan, overwhelmed hospitals in northern Italy, and coffins stacking up in New York City.
Now, two years later, images of people left outside hospitals in cold weather, and reports of young children succumbing to the Covid-19 virus, have jolted Hong Kong from its “zero-Covid” comfort zone.
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The quandary is clear. The intense focus from the media and the daily Covid-19 reports make everyone want to get back to zero quickly. At the same time, there is mounting resistance to the costs of the limitations this will require on our social and economic life.

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