Bailing out

[Ruben von Zwack]

I'm looking forward to your recipe book!

[陳德聰]

Good luck, friend. I'll be heading through the gong show at PVG in the days to follow...

[anonymoose]

4 hours ago, Shelley said:

Yes here (UK) they taking them to a designated NHS center for 14 days quarantine. Likely to be the same everywhere.

 

Maybe symptomatic people? Certainly not everyone. I arrived back a few hours ago and there was certainly no such restriction.

[DavyJonesLocker]

52 minutes ago, anonymoose said:

Maybe symptomatic people? Certainly not everyone. I arrived back a few hours ago and there was certainly no such restriction.

 

it seems its only that chartered plane from wuhan

[Shelley]

6 hours ago, anonymoose said:

Maybe symptomatic people? Certainly not everyone.

 

It is for the people evacuated by the UK government. Although all UK returnees are expected to guarantee themselves volunteer for 14 days.

 

"quarantined at a centre believed to be Arrowe Park Hospital in the Wirral."

 

News just in  -  2 Cases have been confirmed in the returnees, and are being treated at a medical centre. 

[889]

I see reports just now of two cases, but not among the returnees.

[Shelley]

12 minutes ago, 889 said:

I see reports just now of two cases, but not among the returnees.

Yes, sorry, misleading headline, full story clarifies it.

I can't just copy the relevant bit but on the right it gives the impression it was among the returnees.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-51325192

[abcdefg]

Update:

 

Made it as far as Hong Kong. Flew out of Kunming yesterday afternoon (Friday 31 Jan.) It was an on-time departure with arrival in Hong Kong about 6 pm. Good flight, even had food and beverage service. As you know, China is taking this epidemic very seriously. Everyone wearing a face mask, wiping down surfaces, using hand sanitizer and such. Compliance was 100% at the airport, complete with temperature checks. 

 

Still, I was not prepared for lots of passengers on my flight to be wearing those cheap plastic raincoats with hoods. They had the peaked tops pulled up over their heads in addition to face masks. Odd sight. Reminiscent of a KKK rally, since most were light colors, pastels and off-white. (I have only seen these in movies.) The young lady sitting next to me was additionally decked out with disposable vinyl gloves and eye goggles as though she was preparing to do battle in the ICU. She was exquisitely well informed on the subject of this health crisis, and in fact would not shut up about it. 

 

My flight out to the US, scheduled for this afternoon (Saturday 1 Feb) was delayed a couple times and ultimately cancelled. Am now re-booked on another flight leaving Monday 3 Feb. Nothing was available tomorrow. The flight from Kunming to Hong Kong was on Cathay Pacific, but now I am at the mercy of American Airlines, and they are a less stable player. I've read that their pilot's union is suing the carrier over assorted grievances, real and imagined and this has further compromised their performance, their ability to deliver the goods, which is getting passengers and freight from point A to point B. I don't really know or care whether their cause is just. I just want them to take me home. 

 

Not a big deal. I'm in a good hotel, healthy, well fed and watered, and was able to simply extend my stay by two nights. Have adjusted reservations on the Dallas end of the trip and notified friends and family. Beats the hell out of being locked up in some quarantine gymnasium or warehouse, eating instant noodles 方便面 and sleeping on a straw mat.   

[大肚男]

Good luck coming back. I hope you are able to get home soon.

 

 

[Tomsima]

so sorry to hear that theres been delays for you, was really happy to hear you had taken quick action to get out - we delayed for a day here and it was already too late. Hope you manage to get out asap

 

[Luxi]

So sorry the Cathay Pacific flight failed you, but glad to know at least you're in a nice hotel in HK. 

Good luck and fair winds making it back! 

[Flickserve]

@abcdefg

 

meet you for a drink another time. Nothing personal , just the timing is a little suboptimal 

 

?

[abcdefg]

14 minutes ago, Flickserve said:

meet you for a drink another time. Nothing personal , just the timing is a little suboptimal 

 

I agree with that assessment and with that plan! 

[anonymoose]

How is Hong Kong currently? Any sign of ongoing protests or effects thereof? How much of an impact has the virus outbreak had on Hong Kong, and has this had any effect in overshadowing the protests and their underlying causes?

[NinjaTurtle]

ABC,

 

I live in Midland TX. Let me know if you get anywhere near my part of Texas.

[Flickserve]

6 hours ago, anonymoose said:

How is Hong Kong currently? Any sign of ongoing protests or effects thereof? How much of an impact has the virus outbreak had on Hong Kong, and has this had any effect in overshadowing the protests and their underlying causes?

HK is in quite a state. Carrie Lam has an ability to take personal hatred of her to an even higher level. Many believe that her decisions in controlling passage of people from the mainland haven’t gone far enough in limiting numbers. At the same time of the limited border controls, she announced free healthcare for mainlanders and this created a stampede at border controls. You can probably imagine that your public healthcare facilities will get totally swamped and overwhelmed by mainland Chinese with such a policy. That gave fuel to calls for a healthcare worker strike because people felt used and abused. The decision for free healthcare got roundly spanked and reversed really quickly.
 

Healthcare workers have voted in a strike to force the government to close the border. Carrie Lam does not want to close the border citing “discrimination against mainlanders“ and other evidence based measures. Local HKers are going WTF about us then? She also advised civil servants to work from home which added to resentment.
 

On the other hand, there are many cases of mainlanders in HK with fever who have denied visiting the mainland affected areas. They have not been compliant either. One mainland guy was screaming and shouting refusing to be transferred to the infectious disease hospital and then tried to escape. Another case a six week old baby was admitted to hospital ill. The parent didn’t disclose until much later that they had worked in a coronavirus affected hospital in mainland China. This has fuelled distrust of mainlanders who are described as “world class tricky liars” and selfish because they will deny being in Hubei and only visiting other parts of China. 
 

Schools are closed. During SARS, schools were closed for just over 50 days. Indoor public  facilities are closed. This is reviewed on a two weekly basis. What’s the point of having local control measures if you don’t stop the source? This again goes back to the closing the border issue.

 

The protests have died down a lot though are still around. They trashed the railway at lo wu checkpoint at Carrie Lam’s lack of closing the border. Once this crisis is over, I reckon there’s going to be an overwhelming mother of all rallies against Carrie Lam. We shall see next week if the healthcare worker strike will go ahead. The vote for a strike was overwhelming in favour. 

 

[mungouk]

Great insights from everyone on the forum right now. 

 

Thanks everyone, it's really helpful to hear directly from those who are actually there.

[889]

Just about everyone in HK is wearing a mask, which is curious since masks are practically unobtainable in the shops. The Government is closely monitoring the situation, though.

 

Lots of closures: many bank branches, libraries, and other facilities. Postal deliveries will restart Monday, but will be every other day. Big stores are open, many smaller ones still closed from CNY.

 

Streets aren't deserted -- there are a lot of people in Hong Kong -- but traffic is sparse in comparison with normal. Supermarkets were very crowded earlier last week, but that panic seems to have subsided.

 

But as said, the big issue is, will the Mainland crossings be closed. Even pro-Government pro-Beijing figures are calling for it. Unless the Government acts and acts now, there's a serious risk Hong Kong will soon be lumped with the Mainland by foreign countries and subject to flight and travel restrictions.

[Flickserve]

Oh yes. Masks.

 

Going around outside, I don’t hear many people coughing behind their masks. in fact, that’s very rare.

 

Queues for masks stretch around the block and more. I have a whatsapp video of a queue snaking around a whole shopping centre. 
 

Yesterday, I saw a small group of people around a guy In causeway bay (busy area of HK). Being the sort of curious (and nosy), I went up to have a look. Lo and behold , he was selling boxes of masks. $150 per box. I just arrived at the tail end but saw that each box had only Bahasa printed on them - at least the box itself seems to come from Indonesia. (Malaysian printing would include some English). 
 

Now, one needs to be really careful about these bootleggers. There are pictures going around social media of people washing masks and selling them. It’s a possibility that this bootlegger had put some new masks on the top and underneath were secondhand masks. There are also various scam websites selling masks - they take your order and money and then cancel later. I heard it happen recently on Amazon. 

I did order on amazon uk about a week ago. I chose two different suppliers in case one supplier failed. Prices had already gone up but not exorbitant. One supplier has shipped, the other is ‘unknown’. Delivery is to the UK to a relative so then my logistic issue is how to get the masks to HK. I must have got lucky and  placed the order just as the global demand shot through the roof. 

Yesterday, there was a gossip going round of a car being broken into and boxes of masks being stolen. Breaking into cars is very rare in HK so it’s a big deal. There is a story in SCMP about 25 000 masks being stolen from a distribution warehouse. There’s advice on  Facebook saying don’t send masks in boxes as they may go ‘missing’ in the delivery process. 

 

Personally, I have a limited stock at home. Wear them in public for the psychological effect for other people. At work, it’s mandatory. I think people must be rationing them and not throwing them away quickly. 
 

@889

[mackie1402]

36 minutes ago, Flickserve said:

Queues for masks stretch around the block and more. I have a whatsapp video of a queue snaking around a whole shopping centre. 

 

This is the bit I can't quite understand. Surely, will such high demand, they will limit the number of masks per person, and there might even be people who don't get luckily enough to get one before they run out for the day, yet they are still having to use a mask just to queue. I'd be afraid of wearing a mask to get a mask, but being unable to get one!