Bilingual Editorial: COVID Fifth Wave is Spiralling Out of Control
雙語社評：港第五波疫情失控 中央出手盼現轉機
文章日期：2022年3月4日
雙語社評齊齊聽
[英語 (足本收聽)] Presented by NG, Wai-man Raymond, Lecturer of Hong Kong Community College, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
[普通話 (足本收聽)] Presented by Dr CHOW, Wen-chun Raymond, Lecturer of Hong Kong Community College, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
The fifth wave of the pandemic has escalated. As cases have broken out in many hospitals and nursing homes, emergency rooms and isolation facilities are under great strain. Some infected people have developed symptoms, but have had to wait blankly at home for days without being admitted to hospital, profoundly worrying their families and neighbours. The government has been handing out rapid self-testing kits unsparingly in different districts. However, the supporting measures have been poorly prepared and executed, with a lot of confusion concerning the information that has been released. Opinions differ concerning what to do after getting a positive rapid test result, and the public is at a loss as to what to do.
Yesterday (10 February), there were nearly 1,000 new cases in Hong Kong. Cases of elderly deaths have emerged one after another. The outbreaks at Caritas Medical Centre and many nursing homes are particularly worrying. The capacity of Hong Kong's public healthcare system is already quite limited itself, and there has long been a shortage of medical manpower. Even though most cases have been mild since the outbreak of the fifth wave of the pandemic, they have put a lot of pressure on hospitals. If the number of cases soars to several thousand—or even over 10 thousand—a day, thus bringing down the healthcare system, the situation will be unimaginable.
Talking about ''coexisting with the virus'' is very easy. But it is another matter if we consider the reality. A COVID-19 vaccination rate of above 90% is the minimum prerequisite. Factors that must also be considered include the load capacity of the healthcare system. While people around the world are looking forward to the day when the COVID-19 virus weakens to become an endemic disease, no one knows for sure when this day will come. The Singapore government made a point to explain to its people that during the process of a disease becoming endemic, there will inevitably be multiple waves of outbreaks. If we ''lie flat'' and let the virus spread freely, we might speed up the process, but the cost of human life will also be greater. While Singapore has gone down the road of coexisting with the virus, it has maintained pandemic restrictions because human lives matter more than anything else. To ensure that the healthcare system is not overwhelmed, pandemic restrictions must be adjusted in a timely manner and in line with the pandemic situation. Thinking that things will come to an end once and for all if we ''lie flat'' and coexist with the virus is obviously oversimplifying things.
The number of COVID-19 cases in Hong Kong has been doubling every few days. The Hospital Authority (HA) has said that emergency rooms in different districts have become seriously overloaded, affecting other emergency treatments, while the isolation wards and beds in public hospitals have also been filled to capacity. The Penny's Bay Quarantine Centre has been repurposed into a community isolation facility for patients with mild symptoms. It is believed that Phase 1, which has nearly 600 rooms, will be used up soon. A conservative estimate is that at least over 200 patients are still waiting to be admitted to hospital. Some of them have waited at home for seven days, but they have yet to be admitted to a hospital, nor have any isolation arrangements been made for them. In addition, due to the deployment of medical staff to medical stations at community isolation facilities, the HA has become even more undermanned. It needs to urgently hire retired and part-time medical helpers and at the same time gradually scale down non-emergency medical services.
In response to the city's limited virus testing capacity, the Hong Kong government has been distributing rapid self-testing kits in various districts. In a video released to the public, the government called on those who tested positive to go to the emergency room for nucleic acid tests. As a result, emergency rooms became bursting with people. There are still many people who do not know what to do if they received a positive rapid self-test result. When the government introduces a measure, it should offer a full explanation. There is no reason to keep the people guessing.
港第五波疫情失控 中央出手盼現轉機
第五波疫情升級，多間醫院及護老院爆疫，急症室及隔離設施壓力沉重，部分感染者出現病徵，在家呆等數天未獲安排入院，家人鄰舍憂心不已；政府在各區大派自我快速檢測包，卻沒有做好相關支援準備，信息發放混亂，快速檢測陽性後應該怎麼辦，言人人殊，公眾無所適從。
昨天香港單日新增個案近千宗，長者死亡病例陸續出現，明愛醫院及多間護老院爆疫，情况尤其令人擔心。香港公營醫療系統容量本已相當有限，醫護人手長期不足，第五波疫情爆發至今，縱使輕症居多，已對醫院構成重大壓力，萬一真的升至單日數千甚至上萬宗，醫療系統崩潰情况，實在不敢想像。
空談「與病毒共存」很容易，結合現實情况考慮卻是另一回事，新冠疫苗接種率九成以上，是最起碼的門檻，另外還要考慮醫療負荷能力等因素。新冠病毒減弱變成風土病，雖是世人所欲，惟無人確知此日何時來臨。新加坡政府特意向國民解釋，風土病化過程中，必會出現多波疫情，「躺平」放任傳播，也許可以加快此過程，但人命代價亦更大，星洲走共存之路，依然保持防疫限制，就是因為人命關天，為了確保醫療系統不被壓垮，防疫措施必須因應疫情，適時調節鬆緊。若有人以為躺平共存一了百了，明顯將事情過度簡化。
本港新冠個案每隔數天即倍增，醫管局表示，各區急症室嚴重超出負荷，影響其他緊急治療，至於公院隔離病房及病牀使用率亦已飽和。竹篙灣檢疫中心改為社區隔離設施，供輕症患者入住隔離，第一期近600間房，相信很快會用盡，保守估計，目前至少有逾200名病人尚待送院，當中有人在家等了7日，仍未獲醫院收治或安排隔離。另外，由於要調配醫護到社區隔離設施的醫療站，醫管局人手更是捉襟見肘，需要一邊急聘已退休及非全職醫護幫手，同時還要逐步減少非緊急醫療服務。
港府因應檢測能力有限，在各區派發自我快速檢測包，並在宣傳片呼籲結果陽性者到急症室再做核酸檢測，結果塞爆急症室，至今很多人仍不清楚，倘若自我快速檢測呈陽性，究竟應該怎麼辦。政府推出措施，理應作出充分說明，沒理由要市民「估估吓」。
明報社評2022.2.11
