Facing up to post-Covid era challenges

Being able to see each other face-to-face is probably what has been missed the most for the past 1,000 days of the Covid pandemic.

Having been so used to living behind face masks after such an exceptionally long period, many people chose not to grab the first opportunity to go out without wearing one.

That's despite Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu's announcement a couple of days ago that the Prevention and Control of Disease (Wearing of Mask) Regulation (Cap 599) - commonly known as the mask mandate - ceased to be in force from yesterday.

Nonetheless, there were still quite a few - including me - happy to walk around with no mask on, something I have missed for so long.

We may crave things we never had, but we desperately miss things once possessed and since lost.

We have all learned an invaluable lesson after having gone through a pandemic that claimed countless lives and restricted our cherished freedoms.

The image of people wearing masks has become an ironic icon of the public health crisis.

Being able to live without having to wear them is symbolic of the final phase of the exit from Covid, which everyone is delighted to see the back of.

As we prepare to move forward, we should also review what we have learned from those agonizing months of periodic lockdowns.

After Covid hit the SAR in early 2020, the city was plunged into a state of panic - not just because the disease was then totally strange to us but also because there was a severe shortage of personal protective equipment including masks and face shields.

Everybody had to pay sky-high prices for masks which had cost just a little prior to the pandemic.

As the Lee administration continued to wind down pandemic measures with the shutting down of the city's last isolation facilities in Penny's Bay yesterday, government officials should plan forward to draw on what they have learned from the pandemic so far.

For example, would it be foolish to allow the city to find itself depleted of any capacity of self-supplies because Covid is now on the way out?

Rather, should the SAR designate PPE, including face masks, as strategic stocks and keep a safe level of supplies to avoid a future shortage in case another public health emergency occurs?

Meanwhile, can facilities like the isolation accommodation in Penny's Bay be used for other purposes, such as temporary housing or youth hostels?

It would be a huge waste if the hardware that cost many millions of dollars to build were dismantled - unless there is a better use for these sites.

Putting quarantine facilities to alternative uses may be a challenging task. However, given the massive cost of building them, it is worth giving them a new role that can benefit society.

These are some of the examples that may be considered. The post-Covid era has just begun.