Hong Kong's fifth wave of COVID-19 outbreaks - Mandatory testing

When many countries choose the strategy of "coexisting with the virus" to deal with the epidemic that has lasted for more than two years, Hong Kong must follow China's "dynamic clearing" strict epidemic prevention strategy, adopt a series of "early detection and early treatment", and spare no effort to isolate confirmed people and close contacts. Contacts, try to contain the risk of virus transmission in the community.

It is a pity that the COVID-19 virus is constantly mutating, and the transmission capacity is becoming stronger and stronger. The response strategy cannot keep up with the actual transmission speed of the virus. The daily number of COVID-19 cases in Hong Kong has soared from more than 100 cases in early February to more than 10,000 cases at the end of February. With the emergence of confirmed patients, the demand for testing has increased sharply, but the speed of testing cannot keep up, and the chain of ships has been set on fire. Hong Kong's medical system, community testing facilities and isolation facilities are all on the verge of collapse.

Originally, as long as a confirmed case was found in one building, the residents of the entire building had to undergo two compulsory tests. However, since the outbreak of the epidemic during the Lunar New Year period, the testing center could not cope with the huge demand for people who should be tested. The government had to change the compulsory testing. Conditions, unless there are multiple confirmed cases in a building in a short period of time, there is no need for mandatory inspection; in addition to the place where the confirmed person lives, places that have been visited earlier are not included in the scope of mandatory inspection. At the same time, the community testing center has set up a distribution system, and citizens can check the current number and distribution status of each district online.

After the Lunar New Year holiday, the building where I live has already had the first confirmed case, but there has been no announcement of the forced inspection notice. Then, in just nine days, there were four cases. In the end, the fate of the forced inspection was not escaped.

Under the new arrangement, residents of the compulsory inspection building must take a nasopharyngeal swab sample test for the first test, and a deep throat saliva sample test can be selected for the second test.

real. Tossing people's strong inspection experience

The first time we went to the community testing center for the forced inspection was very smooth. Fortunately, the computer dispatch system was set up. The center we went to was located in a relatively urban border, and the epidemic situation in the community was relatively stable. The center opened at 10:00 in the morning. , the upper limit of the test for the whole day is 2500. We arrived at about 12 noon, and the number of chips we got was about 950. The number of chips for the on-site inspection was almost 500, so we went to the nearby shopping mall to buy some daily necessities and stayed indoors to keep out the cold. , After waiting for nearly two hours, when I saw on the Internet that the chip number was approaching us, I hurried to the center to complete the forced inspection and went home smoothly. This completes the first inspection.

Three days later, a second forced inspection will be carried out. At present, it is a crime in Hong Kong not to conduct a forced inspection, which is punishable by fines and imprisonment. However, on the day of the forced inspection, there was a cold snap and it was raining. I was waiting in line for the slow inspection in an outdoor environment of 7 degrees Celsius.

Before going out, I checked that the number of chips distributed at the scene was only more than 300, which was only a ten-minute minibus ride. What I saw at the scene was a long queue. The number of people in line was as high as 200 to 300. The number of chips jumped to 1,400. The number of chips is only more than 400, which means that even if we successfully get the chips at the moment, we will not be able to come back to the center for testing at least until 5 or 6 pm. It is a waste of time.

Feeling that the situation was wrong, we shifted our position and decided to go to a nearby community clinic to get a deep throat saliva sample bottle as a second forced test. However, this kind of sample bottle is not easy to get. Take the community clinic we went to as an example. There are only two time periods (9:00 am and 2:00 pm) to distribute sample bottles every day. The number of distribution in the morning is 100, and the number of distribution in the afternoon 50, while stocks last, each person is limited to one. As a result, we have to wait outside the clinic at 1:00 pm.

Arrived at the community clinic at 1:00 p.m. There were already more than 30 to 40 people waiting outside the door. Little did they know that the rain was getting heavier and heavier. We stood in line for an hour under the cold rain environment with umbrellas in our hands. Although we were wearing thick clothes and warm packs , but I am also worried that my body will soon be unable to withstand it. I did not contract COVID, but caught a cold and fell ill. The gains outweighed the losses. The number of places is limited, and while queuing, there is a feeling of illusory gain and loss. Worrying about the feeling of not being able to get the sample bottle is not a good feeling.

We were lucky to get the sample vial at 2 pm, and the test sample could be submitted with deep throat saliva the next day. Get the sample, go home immediately, take a hot bath, clean and disinfect the whole body, and eat a bowl of hot noodle soup at 3:30 in the afternoon. After tossing for a long time, I was not in the mood to work, and I was physically and mentally exhausted. I still had to climb into the bed and slept for two hours. After a little replenishment, my spirit could recover.

The results of the first test will be notified by text message two days later.
The results of the second test were not received after five days.

Changed and changed strong inspection policy

Number of confirmed cases on 26 February: 17,063

The Hong Kong government has once again adjusted its compulsory inspection strategy. In most cases, rapid self-testing is used to replace some of the compulsory inspection requirements. Citizens who test positive with their own rapid test are deemed to be diagnosed and can report on the online platform later.

All the citizens of Hong Kong were forced to toss for a round, found that the testing facilities were overloaded, and finally accepted the results of their own rapid test.

In fact, we have observed the rapid spread of Omicron virus in many countries. We accepted the results of our own rapid test as early as the beginning of February, so that citizens can be detected early by self-testing. Bar? Will gathering large crowds in testing centers become another transmission risk site?

The Hong Kong government has been asking the central government for help by sending more mainlanders to Hong Kong to prepare for the nationwide forced inspection in March. The three batches of tests feel like another tossing that drags down people's lives.

It is a problem to find out hundreds of thousands of confirmed patients at one time, how to diagnose and isolate them at the same time, and it is a mystery whether they are really successfully cleared after testing.

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