Winter on Fire inspires, and generates support and empathy for Ukraine (Film review)

A 2015 documentary film that's back in the news

 

Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom (Ukraine-U.K.-U.S.A., 2015)

- Evgeny Afineevsk, director, producer and cinematographer 

 

As a gesture of support for Ukraine in the wake of it being invaded by Russia on February 24th, Netflix has made a 98-minute-length documentary which provides much needed background information to what's currently happening in the country free to view on Youtube.  Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom is a film that I'd bet is unfamiliar to many people in the world.  However, it's one that well known to Hong Kongers -- not because it won the People's Choice Award at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival or was nominated for the Best Documentary, Feature Oscar in 2016 but because many free screenings were mounted of it here in the latter part of 2019 and it served to inspire many pro-democracy protestors in Hong Kong who viewed it.   

 

As it so happens, I never did catch a screening of the film back in 2019 and only just viewed Winter on Fire for the first time earlier today.  Still, I have to admit that I can't help but see this documentary about Ukranians out protesting on the streets of Kyiv through the eyes of someone who took part in street protests in Hong Kong in 2019, 2014 and many another year.  And I totally can understand why many Hong Kongers would feel a connection to Ukranians after watching the work as well as be inspired by what was initially an uprising -- whose protest camp in a central square brought to mind those in Tiananmen Square in 1989 for someone like me -- before turning into the full-fledge Maidan Revolution (or Revolution of Dignity) which took place in the winter of 2013-2014.

 

In November 2013, protests erupted in Ukraine after its then president, Viktor Yanukovych, opted against signing an accord with the European Union (that would have politically aligned Ukraine with "the West") and opt, instead, to have closer ties with Russia.  Initially, those who went and gathered at Kyiv's Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) numbered just a few thousand but the size of the protest crowd soon grew in size, with it becoming very apparent that a very large number of Ukranians wanted to be, as they chanted, "Europeans".

 

Like was the case in Hong Kong (in 2014 and 2019), the protestors were initially peaceful, with participants consisting of female and male, old and young (including a 12 year old prominently featured in Winter on Fire) and people from different walks of life (including professionals, trade unionists, students and retirees).  Something that wasn't explicitly mentioned in the film but also is visually apparent is that the protestors were multi-ethnic in nature: in that not all of them were stereotypically blonde haired and blue eyed and some of them actually looked like they were Roma (though it's also true that I didn't notice any Afro-Ukranians in the protest crowd or, for that matter, among the government forces sent in to quell the protest).

 

Also, sadly, as was the case in Hong Kong (especially in 2019), the protests soon turned violent though.  Or, rather (in both Hong Kong and Ukraine), the protestors were attacked by government forces and felt obliged to protect themselves and rescue others from violent fates at the hands of the government forces -- who, in Ukraine, fired live ammunitiion into the crowd as well as rubber bullets and tear gas, and also made use of stun grenades.  

 

One key way in which the Ukranian protest crowd differed from those in Hong Kong is that there were ex-military men in the midst.  It was interesting to hear a number of them talk in Winter on Fire, including about tactics and the kind of assistance they were able to specifically and generally render.  Another major way in which the Ukranian protests was different from the Hong Kong ones: a lot more lives were lost in public view, and directly as a result of the actions of government forces, in Kyiv.  (Should it not be obvious: the film contains some really disturbing footage, made even more upsetting to view because you know what you were watching was real on account of it being a documentary rather than a work of fiction)     

 

And then there's the most significant difference of all: the protestors in Ukraine succeeded in overthrowing the government -- with the unpopular president fleeing the country one morning.  In the post-script, the audience of Winter on Fire also is informed that the hated Berkut (the special police force that looks for Hong Kongers to be the Ukranian version of the riot police) was dissolved.  How many Hong Kongers would love for this to happen here but, sadly, have very little confidence that it ever will.

 

Regardless of whether I wear my Hong Konger hat while viewing this film or not, the following is for sure: Winter on Fire is a very good work: not only because it is thoroughly capable of getting the blood pumping but also because its narrative explains clearly what was shown happening.  In sum: it is a documentary that not only makes one understand why freedom from repression means so much to Ukranians but, also, gets one feeling it is only right to support their bids to remain politically independent.

 

My rating for this film: 9.0

Hong Kong Covid horror stories

 

How bad a state is Hong Kong currently in?  Well, when you

consider that entry to places of worship are currently off limits... :S

 

Two evenings ago, Hong Kong was abuzz about an emergency alert about Queen Elizabeth Hospital being converted into a designated Covid hospital having been sent on a previously unknown -- and unused --  HK$150 million system to many (but not all) phone owners that caused their phones' sirens and buzzers to go off like nobody's business.  Freaked out folks variously wondered if an earthquake had occurred or if Russia had declared a nuclear war.  

 

Others wondered if martial law had been declared in Hong Kong or they had been summoned to be admitted to one of those horrible "community isolation facilities" that have been built (overly) quickly in recent weeks.  All in all, it's a wonder that no one actually got a heart attack as a result of hearing the alert, though several people did voice that it threatened to do so for them!   

 

Two days later, Queen Elizabeth Hospital is in the news once more -- and this time, we're talking about something truly tragic that can in no way be taken lightly or turned into a joke that we can all laugh off.  Specifically: photographs circulated on social media showing filled body bags having been put in a hospital ward right next to patients and their beds (those poor patients!), and, in one image, a bag of adult diapers having been placed atop a filled body bag. 

Granted that we know that Hong Kong's public hospitals have been under severe strain -- no thanks to the private hospitals not pitching in much at all.  Just today, there was a report in the Hong Kong Free Press that "over 12,500 of the Hospital Authority's (HA) 88,000 employees have been infected with Covid-19 during the fifth wave, as it continues to overwhelm the public healthcare system" and about a viral video showing Queen Elizabeth Hospital’s Accident and Emergency Department's consultant doctor, Ho Hiu-fai, a veteran medico who's worked at the hospital for 35 years, breaking down in tears during a staff meeting.

 

Truly, the picture painted by Dr Ho at the staff meeting was horrendous.  Among the details: some 80 percent of patients who arrived at the hospital by ambulance had Covid and some 65 percent of them required hospitalization.  Also, "some patients failed to be admitted into wards and were stuck in the emergency room".  And the reports of other staffers at the meeting were alarming too: including about the emergency room "being like hell, where patients have to sleep on the floor, and there is not enough medicine and supplies like saline water and oxygen"; and there also being "not enough manpower to take care of elderly people's needs, such as taking them to the toilet and feeding them." 

 

Even so, nothing quite rammed home how terrible things have become like those shocking photos.  You know it's bad when a public health professor's Tweeted reaction to the most circulated of them was: "It takes a lot, and this far into the pandemic, but this photo has brought me to an all-time low point." And in the words of another person upset by what they saw: "What two years of Hong Kong government incompetence, and Central government interference, has done to Asia's World City."

 

The Hong Kong Hospital Authority has urged for understanding -- and I think many people will give them -- or at least its medical staffers -- that.  People know that they are overwhelmed and that they've been hung out to dry by the Hong Kong government.  But the Hong Kong government itself really has a lot to answer for.  

 

Oh, and for the record: Hong Kong reported another 294 Covid deaths today; bringing the total number of fifth wave deaths to 3,231 to date.  (A reminder: until the fifth wave, Hong Kong had considerably fewer Covid deaths than deaths from SARS in 2003.)  As Hong Kong-based history professor Noah Shusterman put it: "No excuse for this, not now, not in 2022."     

 

Adding to the horror: the mental strain that caused more than 270 Hong Kongers to call the Samaritan Befrienders Hong Kong (SBHK) suicide prevention group for help in January and February as a result of emotional distress caused by the fifth wave.  And then there are the suicides of two elderly individuals who caught Covid  for fear of causing a burden to their family.  As Natalie Wong, the journalist who Tweeted about them, stated: "Hong Kong has failed them". :(

Spring has arrived in Hong Kong (and the fifth wave peaked?)! (Photo-essay)

Has the Hong Kong fifth wave peaked?  Yesterday, some people thought so.  But they may have spoke too soon as today's total number of reported new cases hit 58,750 (when 32,766 people who tested positive using Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) were added to the 25,991 people who tested positive using the government's Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests).  As for fatalities: 195 people with Covid died at public hospitals over the past day, and 95 deaths had occurred earlier but were yet to be announced.  In short: not good.

 

What I think I can say with some certainty though is that spring has arrived in Hong Kong -- and brought beautiful, bright blue skies along with agreeably mild weather.  Rather than hole up in my apartment, like I did all of yesterday and Sunday, I went out today for a walk: a good part of which was along the Victoria Harbourfront; and a good section of which route I previously had never been on.  And over the course of doing so: you guessed it -- I got to thinking once more that Hong Kong is really beautiful and I (still) f**king love Hong Kong!    

View of the Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter and across the harbour 

over to the Kowloon hills and past it to Tai Mo Shan

 

Not the usual view of the Cross Harbour Tunnel -- and, in fact, 

it took me a few seconds to realize what it was that I was seeing! :b

 

Today was definitely the closest I've been to the Cross 

Harbour Tunnel by foot (as opposed to bus, taxi or car)!

 

Pedal boats waiting for to be utilized again (perhaps

after the fifth wave recedes)

 

In the meantime, at least one can still enjoy the harbourfront 

views and seats along with the day's good weather! 

Should there be any question what the body of water

that dominates the nearby scenery is called...

 

Not as many people out on the promenade as one might expect,

given how beautiful the weather was -- but, then, it's a week day 

and we're in the middle of the fifth coronavirus wave, after all :S

 

Also, I actually didn't see as much wildlife as I'd expected

(very few butterflies out, for instance) but I did spot this bird! :)

Hong Kong's pandemic nightmare continues, no thanks to continued the authorities' political shenanigans

Long lines outside a vaccination center dispensing Sinovac vaccines

 

Has Hong Kong's fifth coronavirus wave peaked?  There are some suggestions that it has done so since, following three consecutive days of over 50,000 new cases being reported last week, yesterday saw a fall in the number of reported new cases from 37,529 on Saturday to 31,008 -- and ditto today, with the reporting of 25,150 new cases (32 of which are imported ones). 

 

But the more suspicious minded among us wonder whether the fall in the number of reported cases is due more to fewer people being required to undergo Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing or and many people not reporting their positive Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) results to the government.  With regards to the latter: there appear to be few incentives for -- and many disincentives against -- reporting one's positive RAT results.  Also, the government's website that allowed people to do so online was only launched today! 

 

Starkly put: How many Hong Kongers do you reckon would want to end up being quarantined in a facility run by the Security Bureau, like has happened to some unfortunates?  And this even before negative reports came out about how terrible they physically are (and, to add to the inconvenience, equipped with Chinese-style sockets that are incompatible with Hong Kong plugs) and badly they are being run.  

 

And while a man admitted to the Security Bureau facility at Tsing Yi appeared to have reacted in an overly dramatic way to not having provided with a single meal for a whole day (by threatening to kill himself!), I must admit to having reacted with quite a bit horror too upon reading that the Security Bureau also will have a hand in deciding who is sent to the Community Isolation Facilities that are ostensibly for Covid patients but look too much like prisons (complete with bars on their windows) for my liking!  This particularly since that piece of information came in the wake of the news that the Hong Kong government is going to deploy some 4,000 riot police officers "to assist in the city’s upcoming mass Covid-19 testing" and "escort [Covid] patients to the hospital or community isolation facilities and enforce building lockdowns"!     

 

As Bloomberg editor Matthew Brooker Tweeted in the wake of this news: "Everything is a security issue in Hong Kong."  Alternatively, here's Hong Kong-based history professor Noah Shusterman's Tweeted reaction to the news of the Hong Kong riot police going to be "assisting" in transporting Covid patients: "When your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a skull."

 

All in all, the Hong Kong government has certainly not covered itself in glory with regards to its handling of the pandemic.  Among the people showing a lack of confidence in the authorities: expats, including bankers, who have decided to leave Hong Kong in droves (along with those Hongkongers upset with not just Hong Kong's Covid situation, and whose exodus began months earlier).  And for the record: "A total of 5,082 people departed Hong Kong on Sunday, the most since the city was hit with its most severe and far-reaching wave of Covid"; and "[n]et departures from Hong Kong reached 22,965 in [the] week ending March 6, [making it the] third record in a row".  

 

And then there are the deaths. 280 Covid deaths were reported in Hong Kong today; and 1,438 in the past week.  And while the elderly (especially the unvaccinated among them) continue to be the most likely to succumb to Covid, two of today's deaths involved young children: one 8 years of age; the other of whom was just four years old.  

 

A comparison of Hong Kong vis a vis three other Asia-Pacific territories also currently experiencing severe Omicron waves is eye-opening, particularly with regards to the number of Covid deaths in Hong Kong vis a vis Singapore, Taiwan and New Zealand.  To be clear: only Hong Kong has "an extremely high death toll" -- because of the low vaccination levels among Hong Kong's elderly and more of Hong Kong's vaccinated having been vaccinated with the less protective/effective Sinovac as opposed to, say, BioNTech/Pfizer or Moderna.  Something else which Hong Kong-based microbiologist Siddharth Sridhar has pointed out as contributing to this disaster: "overwhelmed healthcare".        

 

Another Hong Kong-based medical expert, David Owens, sums up Hong Kong's current pandemic situation as follows: "This is what happens when public health policy ignores science [.]  Predictable, preventable and political".  Speaking of political: The Hong Kong police today re-arrested Winnie Yu, the nurse-activist who was the founder and chairwoman of the Hospital Authority Employees Alliance (HAEA), a labour union representing Hospital Authority staff.  

 

Yu had been arrested on February 28th of last year along with 46 others who organized and/or took part in the July 2020 democratic camp primaries that may well be the last time Hong Kongers got to vote for political candidates they actually liked, respected and wanted to represent them but was one of the minority of individuals let out on bail ahead of the arrestees' national security law trial which still has yet to properly get underway.  

 

And I sincerely hope that those of her former colleagues at the Hospital Authority who recently spoke out against the Hong Kong government's zealous pursuit of  the "Covid Zero" strategy (dynamic or not) do not suffer her fate.  If only the authorities would listen to the frontliners rather than threaten and/or overload them.  Frankly, it doesn't sound like they need medical experts, especially those from Mainland China, to tell them what's happening and what should be done.  

 

A few sample quotes from the Hong Kong Free Press article yesterday about them should well illustrate this: "As public hospitals become increasingly overcrowded, frustration has grown among frontline medics who said the government continues to stand by the same Covid-19 policy as two years ago, when little was known about the virus and vaccines were not available"; "Resources and manpower are being deployed from hospitals to isolation facilities for patients with minimal symptoms, while inconsistent government messaging has sent healthy Covid-positive patients rushing to emergency units, causing days-long waits for those needing urgent attention"; and "It was always a very stupid idea to think we could have zero Covid forever".   

Hong Kong's high Covid death rates, low vaccination rates among the elderly, and continued problematic government messaging

Today's headline news in Hong Kong

 

After three consecutive days of new Wuhan coronavirus case numbers that went past the 50,000 mark (including Wednesday's 55,353, Thursday's 56,827 and yesterday's 52,523), which prompted people to wonder if Hong Kong had reached its testing capacity, the number went down today to 37,529 (of which all but 6 are local cases).  Sadly though, the number of recorded Covid deaths hit a record high today: with today's 220 fatalities showing that a distinct upward trend in fatalities that began on February 10th is very much continuing.

 

Even before today's latest Covid death numbers were released, Hong Kong already had "earned" the distinction of now being the territory with the world’s highest fatality rate for the coronavirus.  And the reason why is something that many people (public health experts, journalists and regular Hong Kongers among them) had forseen months in advance: namely, that Hong Kong had a lower than average vaccination rate for a part of the developed world; and this particularly so with regards to the elderly.

 

This is all particularly frustrating and tragic because it could have been so easily avoidable.  After all, Hong Kong's free Covid vaccination program actually was rolled out back in early 2021, with people over 60 years of age among those given priority (along with such as healthcare staff and staff involved in anti-epidemic work).  But the fact of the matter is that, to quote journalist Oliver Farry, "the Hong Kong government’s passivity in getting the elderly vaccinated and giving them proper information on the vaccines is disgraceful negligence".

 

Before anything else: yes, politics was involved.  As Elson Tong Tweeted: "[Hong Kong] pandemic measures were in part designed to reshape/control public behaviour after the 2019 protests, thus they targeted and were in practice likely to be enforced against young people and their venues. Having been less inconvenienced, the elderly vaccination rate stagnated".  And here's The Economist's Don Weiland on the same subject: "The weaponisation of public health measures in Hong Kong to deny people rights enshrined in the basic law is something that will go down as one of the govt’s vilest moves during this period".   

 

Even if we were to set aside the Hong Kong government's questionable prioritization of the suppression of Hong Kongers over the coronavirus: there's the issue of there just not being very good at communicating with the public.  Take, as an example, its statements about the BioNTech vaccine.  Rather than point out that it actually is the same as the vaccine more internationally well known as Pfizer, the Hong Kong government has tended to refer to it by another name (i.e., BioNTech but also Fosun-BioNTech and Comirnaty).

 

And to compound the problem and cast doubt on the manufacturing origins of the BioNTech vaccine that Hong Kong gets, it has made mention of a "Baxter in Germany" or "a plant in Baxter, Germany" being involved in its production.  Here's the thing: there is NO village, town or city in Germany that's named Baxter.  On the other hand, there IS a sterile fill/finish manufacturing facility in Halle/Westfalen, Germany, that's operated by Baxter BioPharma Solutions and involved in the manufacturing of the BioNTech vaccine.  And that, of course, is the "Baxter in Germany" in question.

 

Truly, there are times when the Hong Kong's particular way with words can be so exasperating (to put it lightly).  Speaking of which: A further eight individuals were jailed for "rioting" by Hong Kong's courts today.  Five of those found guilty were sentenced to three and a half years behind bars, while the other defendants will serve three years and nine months each.  This because the presiding judge, Douglas Yau, had decided that "the case was severe as some protesters threw objects towards the police station, and pointed laser lights at officers."  (I leave you to be the judge as to whether the punishment fits the crime, and what I think of it.)

 

More re Hong Kong's courts: They will temporarily cease operation from next Monday (March 7th) until at least April 11th as a result of how serious Hong Kong's fifth wave has become.  But there of course is no mention of bail being granted bail to those behind bars who haven't been found guilty of anything (because their cases have not gone to trial yet, never mind verdicts having been reached for them).  And ditto re releasing prisoners on health grounds in view of the raging pandemic, including -- or probably especially -- political prisoners like 75-year-old cancer sufferer Koo Sze-yiu (who, it's newly being reported, does not have Covid but still was not physically well enough to attend a court hearing this week). :(

Hong Kong's pandemic woes continue but have not brought its political ones to a standstill

Victoria Harbour view from the North Point-Hung Hom ferry

that's now stopped services until who knows when!

 

In recent days, Hong Kong's reported number of new daily Covid cases have gone past the 50,000 mark.  Yesterday saw a record 55,353 new cases reported; while today saw the number rise some more to 56,827 and the overall number of Omicron fatalities go past the 1,000 mark to 1,153.  

 

And with 78 patients currently in critical condition and 116 whose conditions have been adjudged to be serious, it is extremely likely that the number of Covid deaths will increase again tomorrow.  (BTW, note that Hong Kong's total number of Covid deaths as of today is 1,366 -- which gives a very good idea how well the territory looked to be doing against the coronavirus until this fifth wave of the pandemic hit.)  

Yesterday's RTHK report about the pandemic situation in Hong Kong was done in what presumably was supposed to be a neutral tone.  But some of the lines in it sent chills down my spine.  A prime example: "As the number of Covid-related deaths remains high, a chief manager of the Hospital Authority, Larry Lee, said large freezer containers that can store up to a total of 500 bodies will be set up at public hospitals."  Put another way: the sense very much appears to be that thousands more Hong Kongers will die from Covid in the coming weeks, if not days.

 

I think it is fair to say that a good number of those who die will be unvaccinated folks -- or those vaccinated just once or twice with Sinovac (rather than BioNTech/Pfizer -- which it seems that a number of Hong Kongers still mistakenly believe is made in China).  A high number will also be elderly folks (since over 70 year olds -- and, especially, over 80 year olds -- are the Hong Kongers who are least likely to be (fully) vaccinated as well as vulnerable); with elderly care home deaths being at an unconscionably high number.      

Another group of institutions which I worry about being hit by Covid are the prisons whose inmates currently include close to 1,000 political prisoners.  (And what does it say that Hong Kong currently has more than double the number of political prisoners than Russia?!)  And, yes, I must admit that I particularly worry about the more elderly of Hong Kong's political prisoners, who include 75-year-old Koo Sze-yiu, 74-year-old Jimmy Lai, 70-year-old Albert Ho, 65-year-old Claudia Mo, 65-year-old "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung and 65-year-old Lee Cheuk-yan.  

So it was disturbing to learn today that Koo Sze-yiu, Albert Ho and Lee Cheuk-yan are among the around 1,000 Hong Kong prison inmates who have been caught Covid while incarcerated.  And while it's somewhat assuring to read that Ho and Lee are reportedly asymptomatic, it's worrying indeed to see reports that Koo -- who has late stage cancer as well as is a septuagenarian -- was unable to attend a court hearing today because he was feeling unwell.  

 

Speaking of court hearings and cases: The Hong Kong Correctional Services Department announced today that lawyers will not be able to visit their clients in prison for at least 2 weeks from March 7th to 20th as a result to infections not only in the prisons but also among the prison guards.  But the courts continue to operate -- and today alone saw three cases involving political prisoners proceed apace.

 

Indeed, yesterday saw the verdict delivered on a key political case: that of Tam Tak-chi.  First arrested back in July 2020, the former radio deejay turned political activist and erstwhile vice-chairman of pro-democracy party People Power has been behind bars since a subsequent arrest in September 2020.  And after being found guilty of 11 charges of sedition yesterday by National Security Law judge Stanley Chan yesterday morning, one can imagine him spending many more years languishing behind bars for what are, essentially, mere speech crimes. 

Perhaps is the fear of prosecution that has led German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) to not mention the title of an award-winning Hong Kong documentary about the anti-extradition law protests when reporting that it's created a buzz in Taiwan, where it is currently having a record-breaking theatrical run.  And this despite the reporter who wrote the piece, William Yang, being based in Taiwan, not Hong Kong.  And yes, for the record: I really would like to view Kiwi Chow's Revolution of Our Time.  But, very sadly, the likelihood of my doing so is pretty much nil due to my being in Hong Kong, where the film was made and its director continues to reside.

Panic buying and certain items in short supply in Hong Kong once again :(

Not many people on board the North Point-Hung Hom 

ferry these days, it looks like!

 

I've spent a good part of the last two days out shopping for necessities.  Over the weekend, I ran out of rice but decided to wait to get some on a weekday.  Fortunately, despite scary photographs appearing on social media of supermarket shelves stripped bare, I managed to do so with surprising ease at the very first supermarket I went to yesterday afternoon.  

 

Still, that trip to the supermarket wasn't as stress-free as is usually the case for me.  For one thing, there was a far longer queue at the checkout than I commonly encounter.  Which made for far less social distancing than I would like at a time when Hong Kong has officially gone past the 30,000 mark with regards to reported new daily cases (a record 34,466 yesterday and 32,597 today). 

 

Also, I did notice that some panic buying had taken place as the chilled meat section of the store was pretty denuded of stock.  (I'm guessing that the recent closing of the abbatoirs at Sheung Shui and Tsuen Wan as a result of dozens of Covid infections having been detected in the slaughterhouses forced lots of people who usually get their meat at the wet markets into the supermarkets to get imported meat instead.)  

 

It seems that a lot of people were less successful than me yesterday with regards to their grocery shopping expeditions.  Because this morning saw people waiting outside supermarkets ahead of their opening, presumably to get what they were unable to get the day before or had newly run out of!   

Another shock with regards to the supermarkets came by way of my discovering that a number of them, including 240 branches of ParknShop (one of Hong Kong's two major supermarket chains), had shortened their opening hours beginning today.  Walking by a Wellcome Superstore that usually stays open until midnight, I found that, starting today (until who knows when), it will close at 5pm instead!

 

The government says there's no need for people to panic (buy) and stockpile goods.  But when people know that a lockdown is imminent, but don't know when and for how long it will be for, of course they are going to panic -- or, at the very least, decide that they need to plan ahead by doing such as stocking up!  And, okay, yes, all this panic buying/stocking up may be creating artificial shortages of items.  But, on an individual level, one feels obliged to get certain things before they do disappear from the shelves for who knows how long!  

Hong Kongers remember all too well the mask, hand sanitizer and other shortages which occured in early 2020 (and for the record, the items that ended up being ever so hard to procure back then included rice).  In fact, so scarred have I been by the great toilet paper shortage of February 2020 that I no longer allow myself to wait until I'm on the last toilet paper roll, like was previously the case, before I go off and buy more of it!

 

So, even while I still have a box worth or so still of masks, I decided to go and get some more today -- and found, to my horror, that KF94 masks (which I switched to from surgical masks at the beginning of 2022) appear to be thinner on the ground now as a result of my being far from the only person who's taken to wearing them during this fifth coronavirus wave that's fuelled by the highly infectious Omicron variant. 

 

For the record: I did manage to find stores selling them -- though they were out of stock at two branches of the store that's been my "go to" for masks for some months now, with a staffer at one of the branches telling me that they won't have KF94 masks in stock again until at least the end of this month!  And for good measure, I ended up buying more rapid antigen test (RAT) kits too for "just in case" (though, right now, they appear to be available in lots of places)!

 

And, then, after I got home, I learnt that painkillers also have disappeared from many shelves!  That's just another headache to have to deal with, including the (temporary -- but for how long?) closing of 53 branches of Hong Kong's largest pharmacy chains along with a number of commercial establishments, including over 400 bank branches!  

 

Will there be a bank note shortage at some point in the not to distant future?  I'm wondering if the fear of that is why there have been long queues outside some banks which have remained open for business.  Another type of establishment that I've seen queues extending outside of it in recent days: private clinics.  

 

At first, I wondered if lots of people who were feeling sick had flocked to see doctors for their (minor) ailments.  But I've read that many people have been flocking to private clinics to be vaccinated in recent days.  Which is a shame -- because they waited until we're in the middle of the worst part of a pandemic that's been going for over two years now to finally do so and, also, because the vaccines being dispensed for the most part by the private clinics is the much less effective Sinovac (rather than BioNTech/Pfizer)!