My love for Hong Kong runs deep, despite the rough patches the city has been through in recent years. But I have to admit that my decades of living here have not stopped me being completely baffled by the behaviour of my fellow Hong Kongers.
For readers who do not reside in this city and who have been focused on far more important news elsewhere, you may be surprised to hear that life in Hong Kong has come to a near standstill due to Covid.
While others are preparing to live with Covid, Hong Kong — like Mainland China — is taking the opposite approach of having zero tolerance for the virus. Infections are at their peak, with over 55,000 new cases reported on Wednesday.
Naturally, social restrictions are tight, offices are shut, and kids have begun their summer school holidays early so they can stay at home torturing their parents instead of their teachers.
So you can, to some extent, excuse people’s recent behaviour after rumours began that the city will go into a full lockdown sometime in March.
Now, I’ve seen Hong Kongers panic. Ahead of every big typhoon in the city, supermarkets end up with empty shelves as people stock up on food and fresh water. But Covid spikes here have made another item incredibly precious: toilet paper, as Taipan wrote in early 2020, when armed robbers targeted a shipment of it.
It was no different in the past week, albeit without the stress of a robbery.
The panic has been palpable. Everything from meat, vegetables and fruit, to eggs, milk, rice and canned food, have been in short supply in every shop, with people queueing up for hours on end with full trolleys in preparation for the alleged lockdown.
Toilet paper has once again become a hard currency, as apparently many people put it inside their face masks for an extra layer of protection.
But my biggest shock was not about what people were hoarding. It was what they were not hoarding: alcohol. Much to my surprise, my local grocery store still carried a decent supply of wine and whisky at the beginning of the week. At least, it did until I got there. Stay safe, all.