How the UK Government’s Crazy Covid-19 Policies Killed Christmas When Everyone Needs It the Most
By: Midori The Sea
Tags: Hong Kong, Self Improvement, UK, Christmas, Covid 19

I am not complaining about the tough policy, but…

Given the R rate has exceeded 1 again, i.e. an infected person is infecting more that one person at a time and thus exponential spread, I have to agree that a tougher policy is needed for the Brits still haven’t learned their lesson.

Stop the over-optimism, arrogance and alpha-ness! None of us is exempt from this virus. It’s not a money thing, it’s not a race thing, it’s not a gender thing. We are all in this together.

So it’s right that Boris is being tough about it, but why 6 days before Christmas? Even worse, he was so confident Christmas’s not cancelled just three days ago. It’s his inconsistency that hurts both the government’s credibility and citizens’ ability to think calmly and rationally about this challenge.

People could have planned a bit further ahead, lonely old people who have been waiting for their reunion with their family might have prepared so much for this day, mentally and physically. Boris Johnson was crushing people’s sanity and devastated so many lonely souls out there.

No peace from shitty policies

So the minute my boyfriend arrived, we had to pack all the gifts I bought online for the family and everything else and drove for another 2 hours to avoid tier-4 lockdown areas before midnight.

In the car, I felt like it was an apocalypse, that’s what early escapee feels like. I am sure these people in King’s Cross station felt the same too:

It was difficult for my boyfriend, who drove 4 hours in total to save my lonely ass, but that’s the best decision. I have done everything to shield against the virus, including not going outside at all apart from going on my bike on empty roads. My mental health is too weak to go through lockdown Christmas on my own. I need to save myself whilst not impacting others.

I remember my friends and family in Hong Kong, who have gone above and beyond the government measures to look after themselves. This Atlantic article summarised the actions taken by the citizen well. As our governer, Carrie Lam is so incompetent on both handling the protest and the pandemic, including not blocking people from Wuhan to cross the border to Hong Kong, people are doing things from the ground level:

On the very day the first known coronavirus case in Hong Kong was announced, the same protest team behind the candidate information sites immediately created a new website — this time to track cases of COVID-19, monitor hot spots, warn people of places selling fake PPE, and report hospital wait times and other relevant information. — the Atlantic

The success of Hong Kong’s coronavirus spread has little to do with the government but mostly the alertness and intelligence of the citizens. It’s time we do something for ourselves.

Maybe it’s time for ourselves to do something

The biggest difference between Hong Kong people and the Brits is that the Brits are not experienced about highly contagious diseases. When Asia was recovering from the pandemic, most managed to avoid lockdown, we were still debating whether face masks were effective, and conspiracy theorists are calling this a hoax, a ‘Scamdemic’…

I’ve not followed the news closely since coronavirus started to arrive in the UK. This is not because I don't care, it’s the opposite, I listened to Boris Johnson talked about herd immunity and I lost my faith immediately. I knew the numbers would skyrocket from the start.

Statistics and information are actually abundant in epidemiology and having gone through SARS myself, there’s no way I can guarantee that I won’t be the one dying or spreading the virus to others before we all achieve some form of defence against the virus.

I have been working from home the whole time, ordering all my shopping online. My mum in Hong Kong has already posted me plenty of masks, and I have a 20-litre anti-bacterial hand gel at home. I avoided meeting my friends when people were optimistic about the summer will kill the virus, and kept my social bubble to two friends and my boyfriend only, whom I haven’t even met up that often.

In particular, I avoided going on the street after dark because I knew when the Brits drink, they forget everything they learn. I’m not being mean, but even the pubs were closed early, the party scene on the high streets hasn’t given me any confidence.

Unfortunately, the poor policies, education and common sense of many people and the government has prolonged this battle. My isolationist measures could have worked for a short-term, but my mental health suffered severely as a result. I had never felt so confined in my one-bed apartment before, I lost the ability to meditate, workout, eat and sleep properly. I lost trust in people and the government. I felt completely homesick, hopeless and unsafe that I was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder.