Local Medics Join Campaign For People To Stay Home

Local healthcare workers have joined an international appeal on social media to urge people to play their part in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic by staying at home – while they’re on the frontlines of the battle in hospitals, clinics and testing centres.

The Hong Kong Public Doctors’ Association on Sunday posted on its Facebook page dozens of photos of medical staff in multiple hospitals and testing centres holding up messages saying “I stay at work for you, you stay home for us.”

Along with the photos, the association also posted a message addressed to all HongKongers saying “please keep good personal hygiene, wear surgical mask, wash your hands, avoid social activity. If you are under quarantine order and medical surveillance, please stay home, DO NOT GO OUT!”

It added that as the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases surge in recent days, the public healthcare system has come under “tremendous pressure.”

Many top infectious disease experts and politicians have in recent days expressed alarm at the apparent drop in people’s vigilance against the growing pandemic, with streets, trains, restaurants, bars and malls again filling up with people after weeks of being relatively empty.

Some have even urged the government to follow in the footsteps of some other countries by ordering a shutdown of restaurants, bars, cinemas, and other high-risk businesses.

Many have expressed frustration at social media posts by people apparently ignoring mandatory quarantine orders after coming home from abroad, sparking renewed calls for people to stay at home unless they have no other choice.

Speaking to reporters ahead of a briefing on Sunday, a chief manager of the Hospital Authority, Linda Yu, added her voice to that of her colleagues, saying “healthcare workers will stay at work for the people of Hong Kong, but healthcare workers would like people under home quarantine to also stay home for all of us.”