Out of the Predicament of the Pandemic
Since the novel coronavirus spread across the globe in early 2019, more than 20 months have now passed! I cannot help recalling the 2003 SARS outbreak; it came with great ferocity, and many people, especially our fellow healthcare workers, were caught unprepared. SARS took 299 precious lives in Hong Kong, many healthcare colleagues fell ill, and I too lost a good colleague from those days, Dr Tse Yuen-man. By contrast, when the novel coronavirus arrived, Hong Kong people did not take it lightly but took full precautions, and for a time masks, hand sanitiser and household disinfectants were snapped up and sold out! In recent years I no longer work on the frontline in hospitals but teach in tertiary institutions; during the pandemic I have thought constantly of my frontline graduates, and through the public media I have often offered them encouragement and praise for their efforts in this battle. In my teaching I often take Dr Tse's sacrifice as an encouragement, reminding students to have the correct concepts and habits of infection control (infection control) so as to protect patients, themselves and their families! At the same time I encourage them to care more about the groups around them who are in need — older people, the poor, those living alone, the homeless and so on — and to lend a hand whenever they are able: giving money if they have money, and strength if they have strength! The pandemic is fluctuating, and it is still unclear when it will be brought under control in the days ahead; I hope we can maintain positive thoughts, support one another, get through these difficult times together and walk out of the predicament of the pandemic!