Hong Kong Is No Longer Poster Child for Pandemic

Health Editor’s Note: While it appeared that Hong Kong may have contained COVID-19, the pandemic is now progressing again and that country is shutting down, yet again…..Carol 

Hong Kong was a pandemic poster child. Now it’s a cautionary tale.

by Shibani Mahtani/The Washington Post

HONG KONG — At the start of this month, restaurants here had wait-lists, bars were overflowing, and beaches were dotted with umbrellas and sand seekers. Three weeks had elapsed since the last locally transmitted novel coronavirus case, and the pandemic appeared to be down, if not entirely beaten.

All of that progress has come to a halt, as government missteps and a mutated strain of the coronavirus have led to the most severe wave of infections in Hong Kong since the onset of the crisis in January.

Cases, though modest in comparison with the United States, are setting new daily records. Isolation wards are filling up. From Wednesday, restaurants must suspend dine-in services, masks will be mandatory — even for people exercising outdoors — and residents will be prohibited from gathering in groups of more than two, as officials impose the strictest social distancing measures here to date.

Carol Duff, MSN, BA, RN

Carol graduated from Riverside White Cross School of Nursing in Columbus, Ohio and received her diploma as a registered nurse. She attended Bowling Green State University where she received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History and Literature. She attended the University of Toledo, College of Nursing, and received a Master’s of Nursing Science Degree as an Educator.

She has traveled extensively, is a photographer, and writes on medical issues. Carol has three children RJ, Katherine, and Stephen – one daughter-in-law; Katie – two granddaughters; Isabella Marianna and Zoe Olivia – and one grandson, Alexander Paul. She also shares her life with her husband Gordon Duff, many cats, and two rescues.

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