I ASKED A FRIEND IN HONG KONG HOW THINGS ARE GOING AND GOT THIS RESPONSE:

There appears to be a new disease spreading throughout Hong Kong now…

I think the term for it is “cabin fever”.

The wife and I went to the Foreign Correspondents Club to the Main Bar – absolutely packed.
So we ventured downstairs to Bert’s Bar where it usually isn’t crowded – completely full.
So we left and looked for a bar or restaurant for dinner. Pretty much every single one of them full.
We weren’t keen hanging in such crowded venues, so we came home and ordered out.
You have to wonder how many were out mingling with dozens of other strangers spent the week “working from home”.

Reminds me of an ice storm one winter while at UT.
No way students could get to classes with the sidewalks and streets iced over.
However, they somehow found a way around lunchtime, usually on their hand and knees when crossing the street, to make it to one of the nearby bars to drink the afternoon away…..

But cases have spiked a bit in Hong Kong of late.
Every member of a travel group last month to Egypt has come down with the virus – which has spiked the numbers.
Scroll to the last page:

https://www.chp.gov.hk/files/pdf/local_situation_covid19_en.pdf

Meanwhile, there are over 24,000 people in Hong Kong under quarantine.

https://www.chp.gov.hk/files/pdf/cap_599c_stat.pdf

The Government also lists every building in which an infected person in the past 14 days has visited:

https://www.coronavirus.gov.hk/eng/index.html

In most cases, if someone has visited a club or restaurant, it is shut down for a period of time – this has happened to both the Jockey Club and the Foreign Correspondents Club – and they inform the entire membership of what day, time and place that person visited.

A doctor earlier this week told me that when their 14-day quarantine is over, they are required to be tested.
That is where most of the new, non-imported cases are emerging from.
Apparently, there are five different tests available of varying accuracy.
The most accurate one requires deep throat sputum as it is most likely to come from deep in the lungs.
Many, especially Chinese females, don’t like that test and ask for a different method. Don’t know why that is the case.

So far, only 3 have died and were quite old or had pre-existing conditions.

But for the most part, people are still being cautious with many small businesses shuttered for the time being.
But everyone wears a mask, temperature checks to enter offices and clubs, and much more diligent hand-washing.
Most kids seem to have adjusted to virtual learning and it seems to be working quite well.

So there you are.