I'm not saying this is the best way to handle the helper situation, but let's for the purpose of discussion say you are in charge, what would you do differently?
Sounds like other HK residents should have the option to book Penny Bay, if capacity constraints was the issue.Not treat them any differently compared to any other resident returning. It actually requires the govt to do less, they have gone out of their way to handle a problem that doesnt exist.
OTOH, should there be segregation based on risk of place of origin of your flight (I can imagine this to be the motivation for their once again non-holistic decision making) ?
Nevertheless the best treatment really is having places that can accommodate people requiring the quarantine without leaking to fellow detainees, and [until they accept its endemic] reducing it to the medically justifiable period that’s necessary which should itself help capacity issues. Sadly sensible policies are in short supply since it’s all about controlling people and punishment for needing or wanting to travel [unless you’re Nicole Kidman, CY, or the family of Mideast consular staff then apparently quarantine is not necessary].
I'm fine with this. There is no justifiable reason why somebody returning from the Philippines should be treated differently to someone returning from the US. They either trust the quarantine system and the measures they have in place or they dont. It's clear they aren't 100% in when it comes to any of their policies. Maybe they know in their heart of hearts zero covid is unsustainable but are so far down the path no one wants to suggest a change of direction?
That’s fair, and my comment wasn’t meant as a dig as I’m sure most are sincere about equality. My observation was simply that at least a few are crying racism (quite believably) which I went along with, but you mentioned there being “a problem that doesn’t exist”, at which point I was triggered into being fair to the authorities and observing (i) perhaps the current facilities are already overloaded with bookings from other residents (ii) they can’t free space in a hurry to have DHs coming in, and therefore to prevent conflict, real or imagined, they opened a new source of supply.
I have no horse in this because I’m abstaining from travel under current conditions and don’t use a DH. Certainly most would have noticed I have no particular fondness for the opaque and often poor decision-making of the authorities, but fair is fair. They certainly could have done better on this, as on many issues, but the racism or classism charge doesn’t seem quite so cut-and-dried. At least not as the motivator for “segregation”.
We arrived in Australia on 18/08/2020 and had to quarantine at an Aussie standard 5-star hotel for 2 weeks ending on 01/09/2020 which also coincided with the first day of spring! Sharing some pictures of the food delivered three times daily by the hotel staff who took extra care in providing appropriate meal for a toddler as well! The quarantine bill was around 25k HKD for 2 king sized rooms that had plenty of space to store our 10+ pieces of luggage and extra furniture.
So much health abounds in hk but it's all for nothing. The least they could do is provide decent food so that their miseries cramped in a rabbit hutch of a room are minimised.
So basically what the HK govt is trying to say is we could have opened up more space here and there BUT we dont want the Helpers all coming here at once and bringing the virus with them.
Sound reasonable or shit??? LOL
https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/compone...1-20210901.htmThe labour chief stressed there's a need to prevent too many helpers from high-risk countries to arrive at once, because that would involve infection risks.
Clearly the virus coming from the Philippines is more risky than it coming from the UK. But it isnt racist. Somehow.
Last edited by Blowfish; 01-09-2021 at 07:22 PM.