Coronavirus: why the world’s longest hotel quarantine in Hong Kong is a band-aid slapped on a ballooning health crisis

First world problems, perhaps, but authorities should consider the financial and mental downsides of 21-day hotel quarantine for returning residents

With loopholes in social-distancing policies and a lack of data, is extra-long quarantine really helping to suppress the pandemic in the community?

Reading Time:5 minutes

Hong Kong’s three-week mandatory quarantine in designated hotels may be causing more pain for arrivals than is necessary. Photo: Felix Wong

Published: 1:00pm, 30 Jan 2021Updated: 10:17am, 31 Jan 2021

First-world problems, perhaps, but on the seventh day of my three-week mandatory hotel quarantine in Hong Kong, the toilet flush stopped working.

The concierge of my hotel in Aberdeen, which my husband and I chose for the view and a window that could open, apologised over WhatsApp: the Water Supplies Department had not notified them in advance that flushing services would be temporarily suspended to repair a water main.

In a fit of incredulity, I rang the government’s Covid-19 hotline. I understood that there was an emergency, I explained, but did the Water Supplies Department know the affected area included a building whose residents were banned from leaving their rooms? Could the department complete these repairs quickly?

The person on the other line paused for a second, then asked tentatively: “Which department is your complaint against? How do you spell it?”

I instantly regretted two things – not being able to speak Cantonese and expecting the government to provide me with answers or assurances.

For the next 12 hours, I proceeded to relive my younger days as a roving reporter visiting smaller Indonesian towns, where it is common to find a scoop bucket and a pail of water next to the toilet.

Coronavirus: why the world’s longest hotel quarantine in Hong Kong is a band-aid slapped on a ballooning health crisis

First world problems, perhaps, but authorities should consider the financial and mental downsides of 21-day hotel quarantine for returning residents With loopholes in social-distancing policies and a lack of data, is extra-long quarantine really helping to suppress the pandemic in the community?

First world problems, perhaps, but authorities should consider the financial and mental downsides of 21-day hotel quarantine for returning residents

With loopholes in social-distancing policies and a lack of data, is extra-long quarantine really helping to suppress the pandemic in the community?