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by chriselles
2298 days ago
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In 2010, my home of Christchurch has a serious earthquake. In 2011, it suffered another far more serious earthquake. The 1st one provided a full dress rehearsal for the 2nd one. I wonder of the same will be said for pandemics? Coronavirus is by no means a dystopian apocalypse. But it could be an opportunity to help us learn to prevent one. My concern is around the cost benefit analysis from the perspective of elected leadership. Prevention doesn’t pay politically. |
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It does.
Hong Kong experienced SARS in 2003. The pandemics hit the city hardly [1], infected almost 2000, taking a hundred lives, of which several are medical practitioners.
This time Hong Kong citizens sounded alarm as early as mid-December. They advocated locking down the border from Mainlanders in mid January [2]. The dysfunctional Government was completely oblivious to the situation until at least mid Feb. But the people with vivid memory of SARS took the situation seriously. Mask were used almost ubiquitously in late Jan. Hand sanitizers are equipped by everyone.
It is a stark contrast compared with expat or new mainland immigrants.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002%E2%80%9304_SARS_outbreak#...
2. The dates are recalled from memory, from conversation with HK friends. So take the dates with handful of salt