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  • Walter's Blog.
  • Home
  • Introduction
  • About Walter
    • 1980 Joining Up - Grafton Street >
      • Arrival and First Impressions
      • First Week
      • Training
      • Passing Out
    • Yaumati Cowboy >
      • Getting on the Streets
      • Tempo of the City
      • Jumpers, pill poppers and the indoor BBQ
      • Into a Minefield.
    • Why Tango in Paris, when you can Foxtrot in Kowloon? >
      • Baptism By Fire
      • Kai Tak with Mrs Thatcher.
      • Home; The Boy Returns
  • 1984 - 1986
    • PTU Instructor & Getting Hitched
    • Having a go: SDU
    • Starting a Chernobyl family
    • EOD - Don't touch anything
    • Semen Stains and the rules
  • 1987 to 1992 - Should I Stay or Go?
    • Blue Lights, Sirens & Grenades
    • Drugs, Broken Kids & A Plane Crash
    • 600 Happy Meals Please!
    • Hong Kong's Best Insurance
  • Crime in Hong Kong
    • Falling Crime Rates - Why?
    • Triads
  • History of Hong Kong Policing
    • History 1841 to 1941
    • History 1945 to 1967
    • Anatomy of the 50 cent Riot - 1966
    • The Fall of a Commissioner.
    • History 1967 to 1980
    • Three Wise Men from the West
    • The Blue Berets.
    • The African Korps and other tribes.
    • Getting About - Transport.
    • A Pub in every station
    • Bullshit Bingo & Meetings
    • Godber - The one who nearly got away.
  • Top 20 Films
    • 2001 - A Space Odyssey.
    • The Godfather.
    • Blade Runner
    • Kes
    • Star Wars
    • Aliens
    • Ferris Bueller's Day Off
    • The Life of Brian
    • Dr Strangelove.
    • Infernal Affairs
    • Bridge on the River Kwai.
    • This Is Spinal Tap.
    • Chung King Express
    • An Officer and a Gentleman
    • PTU
    • Contact
    • Saving Private Ryan
    • Family Guy Star Wars
    • Zulu
    • Hard Day's Night
  • The Long Read
    • Machiavelli on Hong Kong
    • War in Ukraine - the narrative and other stuff.
    • The Hidden Leader
    • The Big Game
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Walter's Blog

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Reflections on recent events, plus the occasional fact
free rant unfiltered by rational argument.
 

"If you want to read a blog to get a sense of what is going on in Hong Kong these days or a blog that would tell you what life was like living in colonial Hong Kong, this blog, WALTER'S BLOG, fits the bill."  Hong Kong Blog Review

8/9/2020 3 Comments

Testing, Testing, Testing.

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"It's a sign of the opposition's immense privilege that they mock a free scheme that benefits the poor."
Last week, I joined the government's Covid-19 testing scheme. To date, some 1.2 million people registered for the free test. Making an appointment online couldn't be easier. When I arrived at the test centre, I'm greeted, instructed to sanitise my hands, and then registered. Next, comes the test: a swab from my nose and one from the throat. 

The only issue I had was my eyes watered a bit. I'm heading home after less than four minutes. Eighteen hours later, a negative result pops up on my mobile phone. The scheme is a testament to Hong Kong's organisational abilities, with the help of the Mainland. Now the government is extending tests to meet the demand. 

This high uptake is despite the activities of the naysayers, who sought to disrupt the testing by encouraging people to stay away. Only in a demented world would anyone seek to stop such a worthy public health initiative by inciting mass hysteria. 

Yet even medical doctors, with breathtaking deceit, came out to criticise. A quick examination of their backgrounds soon established them as members of the militant opposition. Their opportunistic ranting then faded as public support grew for the scheme. 

Scrambling to find a point of attack, they seized upon the low rate of positives. Have they forgotten that a pandemic begins with one infected subject? Thus, any detections, even one, is a step in the right direction. But when you allow the infected to circulate, the deaths mount up and mostly amongst the elderly. 

Am I the only one to get the distinct impression that some in the medical community have allowed politics to cloud their professionalism? Or is the fact that private doctors lost a potential cash-cow, something that irked them? After all, the government scheme is free. With private doctors charging thousands of dollars for a test, they've taken a hit.

Of course, the opposition politicians objected because, well, the Mainland is assisting Hong Kong. In their minds, anything from the Mainland is verboten. Seeking to dissuade the public from joining the scheme, they touted stories of our DNA crossing the border in some sinister plot. 

When faced with unassailable evidence that the entire procedure takes place in Hong Kong, they embellished their fantasies. The best I heard involved the covert planting of a micro-chip on our bodies.  

These malicious efforts exposed an opposition that is willing to sacrifice people's health for a perceived political gain. I'm not surprised. After all, these are the same politicians who turn up at Prince Edward MTR Station to worship the 'dead' killed by the police on August 31, 2019. Ask the likes of Legislator Claudia Mo to name of any of the 'dead' and expect a fact-free convoluted answer. 

When you want details, these people go further down the rabbit hole with claims of a massive cover-up. They muse about secret trains taking the bodies away, families paid-off, and hundreds of people missing. Then gullible western politicians, blinded by prejudices, rush to repeat these fake stories. In no time, the narrative takes hold. 

Only one problem - the dead are coming back to life. One popped up in the UK, where he is avoiding riot charges. Here's a thorough account of the events at Prince Edward MTR. 

Anyway, I digress. At least legislator Doctor KWOK Ka-ki, of the Civic Party, had the good grace to acknowledge that Covid-19 testing has its merits and is well-run. Speaking on Radio 3, he waffled around the topic before finally letting his professional side make a rational statement. When pressed on what he'd do different, he had nothing much to offer. He next went completely off-script by praising the Mainland. Shurely shome mishtake!

Meanwhile, the government has preordered enough Covid-19 vaccine for one-third of the population. Plans are also in place to secure vaccine for the rest of the community based on two doses per person. With stage three testing of vaccines underway, the process of immunisation should start in mid-2021. 

It's now inevitable that the opposition will build an insidious campaign around stopping this mass vaccination. No doubt they'll draw upon the anti-vaccine lunatics in the USA, who've contributed to the re-emergence of measles and other diseases. 

It's a sign of the opposition's immense privilege that they mock a free scheme that benefits the poor. They can afford a test. No wonder the opposition stands accused of shameful hypocrisy. 

While trumpeting 'human rights', they seek to deny people the right to a disease-free society. This denial disproportionately hits our economically-deprived elderly by exposing them to increased risk. All rational and compassionate citizens must embrace testing and a vaccine so that we can get back to a near-normal and protect our senior citizens. 

Meanwhile, the opposition's mask of common human decency has slipped.
3 Comments
Marc
8/9/2020 09:05:57 pm

Agree with you about the organisation and efficiency of the Universal Community Testing Programme but I think it should have been targeted at high-risk groups (elderly homes. care centres, prisons and medical staff etc). The costs/ benefit analysis seems to have been forgotten - the 20/80 rule applies - and funds could have been used for other areas that really need them. The blanket exercise makes it seem like PR was a significant factor.

Reply
Chris Emmett
8/9/2020 10:08:08 pm

Recent HK Free Press readers’ comments debunked the covid test, claiming it was a waste of money and resources. I replied that I had to agree because they and Donald Trump couldn’t possibly be wrong. So far no replies, not even the usual abusive ones. Of course, it would be a real shame if bandwagon-hopping politicians dissuaded their more violent followers to refuse a vaccine (Hmmm. Or would it?)

Reply
Bjorn
9/9/2020 03:47:18 am

Great comments. I'm happy to report I've managed to read through all of your blog content. Some really great stuff there with a wonderful inside perspective on the HKPF. Walter...Robin...whoever you are, do you intend to write additional posts about the years after 1992? I'm rather hopeful you will. I see a comment above from Chris Emmett whose first book I own: a great read as well!

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    Walter De Havilland was one of the last of the colonial coppers. He served 35 years in the Royal Hong Kong Police and Hong Kong Police Force. He's long retired. 

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