Health & Environment

Amid the shortage of sanitary equipment, the newly elected district councillor Jimmy Sham in Lek Yuen area has been distributing masks to the residents in his district.  With most of its residents being elderly, Jimmy Sham is worried that such an old area would have a higher chance of coronavirus outbreak. “As the elderly are having poorer immunity than normal people, they are more likely to catch diseases. So if the coronavirus is spread here, that would be a big issue.” However, elderly in the estate usually have less social resources to catch up information for buying masks. Ms. Chan is among them. The 64-year-old woman has reused her surgical mask for a week, and she was going to use it again tomorrow. "We really don’t have many left at home. And we need to spare some for my son because he needs to go out to work everyday." "Some people have donated a few boxes of masks to us. We are figuring out how to distribute them in a relatively fair way, as we can't help them all," said the councillor. In order to benefit more people, they unboxed all the masks and repacked them for every 10 masks. Instead of distributing the masks to all the residents, they registered for around 600 residents who have asked for help, and spare enough masks for them.  Ms. Chan has got two packs, in a total of 20 masks, for her 3-people family. She was happy about the service of the new district councillor. "He is helpful as he knows we do not have enough masks." However, the method of distribution has aroused dissatisfaction among the community. A 78 years old man complained that he did not know they were distributing masks, therefore he didn’t register beforehand. "We have already tried …

The wide-spreading coronavirus has shattered the city. In fear of getting infected, people have been avoiding leaving their homes, even many companies have started the "work from home" arrangement. Unlike other districts in Hong Kong, the streets in Tai Po are filled with people, rushing from place to place to buy as many necessities as they could. With rumors of the coronavirus that would last for months spreading around the city, people are hoarding necessities in preparation for sudden self-quantization.  

Due to the outbreak of the coronavirus, people are anxious about it. To prevent themselves from getting the virus, they started to panically purchase medical and cleaning supplies. Some other daily necessities such as toilet paper have all been snatched as well. People now have high demands for medical products. However, their demands can’t be met due to the supply shortage. To soothe the problem, some stores have decided to sell the goods at a low price or even give it out for free to people who are in need.  

Accompanied by her husband, Wang Qiuwen arrived at the Third People's Hospital of Yunnan Province. She joked around her husband and friends as usual, took a photo with 24 other allies, then left by taking the bus heading towards the airport.  To fight the expanding coronavirus outbreak, the Chinese authorities have sent medical teams from less-infected parts of the country to support hospitals in Hubei Province. Yunnan sent its first medical team with 25 health workers from the Third People's Hospital of Yunnan Province to Hubei on Jan 27. Wang Qiuwen is one of the nurses of the Yunnan medical team. "Once we decided to be here, we have prepared ourselves for the potential infection. The only thing I can do for my family is taking good care of myself.", said Ms Wang. She signed up for the team voluntarily, leaving her 6-year-old son, who is with mental retardation and asthma, to her husband. "My son's life was changed by the persistent bronchial infection after having pneumonia when he was small." said Ms Wang, "It (signing up to Hubei) feels more like my mission as a nurse." Ms Wang said interprovincial support minimizes cross-infection between health workers and the public. "We don't get in touch with anyone outside of the hospital so that we won't have such worries of cross-infection like local doctors, who would contact their family members." Bearing the burden of taking care of their child, her husband Wan Hong, a doctor, still strains to handle the enormous workload of coronavirus control in Yunnan.  "I supported her because I understand how hard the choice is for a health worker while facing such an epidemic." said Mr. Wan, "I have to stay optimistic being the one stayed at home. The family is on me now."  Doctors, defined as "Non-emergency …

HONG KONG- Browsing masks online at the middle of the night has become a daily route for Jeff Wong, who was trapped at home due to the Wuhan coronavirus. Buying hygiene products is now on the top of his priority, since there are 62 cases of coronavirus diagnosed until February 19.  Having limited storage of masks at home, Mr Wong can only purchase for extra masks --- but he found it difficult to do so, as the whole city is in panic. Influenced by the plague of SARS in 2003, Hong Kong people have been aware of epidemic prevention and started to buy hygiene products like medical masks since the start of January. A panic-buying spree for medical products even led to the shortage of masks, resulting in a dramatic rise in the price. Citizens have to search online for cheaper masks and restock information. Social media is one of the major channels for suppliers and stores to release information on the restock situation. Checking the Facebook pages of Watsons and Mannings has become a must-do event for Mr Wong everyday. According to the Consumer Council, the price of one N95 masks goes up to HKD $78 in some local drug stores. In comparison, the cheapest price for a box of 20 N95 masks is only sold for HKD $154 on the HKTVmall, a local online shopping platform.  "The price is more reasonable online, but the supply is still unstable." Mr Wong says. "The products would be sold out in a minute after it's restocked because there are too many people who want it." In order to purchase masks, Mr Wong not only keeps an eye on local websites, but also supplies from overseas mask processors through Amazon or eBay. "I have to stay up late to wait for the …

In Xinjinan garden, in one of the housing estates in Baoan, Shenzhen, a shed is built near the entrance of the garden for people to take their food and packages. When they come into the garden, the guard takes their temperature. As the coronavirus cases are still showing an upward trend in mainland China, people are forced to stay at home. Shenzhen, a city with the most ports in China, has been most affected by the outbreak in the Guangdong province. The number of coronavirus cases has exceeded 400 and even now surpassed Guangzhou. To reduce the human-to-human transmission, all delivery men and couriers cannot go into the housing estates, according to the latest policy. Individuals, who do not want to go to the supermarket, need to go downstairs to pick up their delivery.

Since February 1, Zhangjiakou government has required each residential community to form a coronavirus prevention team composed of at least 10 members to control personnel access and register residents' health situation, while due to the medical resources in short supply and limited joint members, community workers overworked only with basic protection. At the gate of some communities, temporary board houses or tents are built as epidemic checkpoints for community workers to check the identity card of the residents and detect the temperature of entering personnel. Some of them even continue working for 4 hours only with a table under the degrees below zero. "I put on 3 pieces of the warmest jacket in my home to resist cold weather," said Angela Zhang, the one assigned to the community to assist epidemic control work during the outbreak of coronavirus. "It's tough work for limited community workers." Aside‌ ‌from‌ ‌guarding‌ ‌at‌ ‌the‌ ‌gate‌ ‌of‌ ‌the‌ ‌community,‌  ‌she‌ ‌needs‌ ‌to‌ ‌distribute‌ ‌and‌ ‌collect‌ ‌the‌ ‌health‌ ‌registration‌ ‌form.‌ ‌The‌ ‌health‌ ‌registration‌ ‌form‌ ‌includes‌ ‌the‌ ‌names,‌ ‌the‌ ‌telephone‌ ‌number,‌ ‌and‌ ‌the‌ ‌travel‌ ‌situation‌ ‌of‌ ‌the‌ ‌residents‌ ‌in‌ ‌the‌ ‌past‌ ‌two‌ ‌weeks.‌ ‌ ‌ "I‌ ‌paste‌ ‌the‌ ‌form‌ ‌on‌ ‌the‌ ‌door‌ ‌of‌ ‌each‌ ‌household‌ ‌and‌ ‌remind‌ ‌them‌ ‌to‌ ‌fill‌ ‌it‌ ‌in‌ ‌by‌ ‌phone," ‌said‌ ‌Ms‌ ‌Zhang. Such‌ ‌work‌ ‌will‌ ‌repeat‌ ‌3-5‌ ‌times‌ ‌to‌ ‌get‌ ‌the‌ ‌effective‌ ‌response‌ ‌of‌ ‌each‌ ‌family." ‌ The community epidemic prevention work is facing a shortage of workers. Primary and secondary teachers are also required to be on duty at the gate of each community to assist community workers' work from February 1to 7.   "The secretary of our community joint committee has not been home for several days because of the work to prevent the epidemic," said Ms Zhang. Medical supplies in short cannot guarantee the basic needs of community workers. Ms …