Smuggled messages from an orchestra in quarantine
mainThe Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra is being held in near-prison conditions on Lantau Island after one player tested positive for Covid-19.
From the South China Morning Post:
They have been placed in the same section of the 1,080-room camp, each minimally furnished room the size of a standard shipping container. Jamming and group rehearsals are banned, obviously, given that nobody can leave their own rooms. But most musicians with smaller instruments have been trying to keep up with their daily practising habits…
For example, the first associate concertmaster and violinist Leung Kin-fung is woken up every morning around 3am because that is when the fire alarm system is tested, every day, and there is an alarm just outside his door. Some musicians who play larger instruments were banned from bringing them because the rooms are so small; a number of people were scalded by water that was too hot in the shower; and there is no Wi-fi.
One player who preferred to remain nameless says the food is “horrific” and that some colleagues had chosen to fast or just eat boiled eggs.
More here.
Small price to pay to stay safe from this deadly virus.
What???? Or was that a joke?
Calm your piss flaps down. Its not a death camp. If you really care so much then you should be condemning the wuhan won tons
I’m no doctor but I’m 99% sure that testing fire alarms at 3 AM every day does not reduce the risk of COVID transmission, or improve outcomes in infected patients. If you know of a study saying otherwise, you’re welcome to share it.
and it doesn’t help with scale practice
I can see regular fire alarms, especially in a place that crowded, but why can’t they be n daytime when people are up? They’re going to hear them anyway — that’s the point of fire alarms — whether they are outside their door or not.
These conditions sound Guantanamo-like, but given the size and population of HK, and the disinclination of HK people to obey orders, I can see isolated quarantine. An awful lot of Hong Kong people live in terribly close proximity, and a bunch of infected people could become super-spreaders in no time. I’m amazed the situation there is not much worse.
Their two weeks must be nearly up. And if each person has a room the size of a shipping container, they have more room than most Hong Kongers would have at home — by a long chalk.
Ms. Pastrami is correct. I understand it may have been difficult for those musicians, but we are all suffering during this global pandemic. Indeed, to not have volunteered for this precautionary quarantine would have been quite selfish indeed. I can only hope that they practiced proper mask etiquette!
It is NOT deadly. It’s highly contagious. Ebola is deadly, but hard to acquire. And people who have certain conditions (old age, diabetes, blood type A, obesity, etc) are much more likely to die. If you’re in good health and get proper care your chances of rebounding are upwards of 98%. Many viral diseases are much, much more deadly.
Sure Jessica. Keep telling yourself that. Geez…
Pastrami is working under the assumption that individuals would act with complete candour regardless of the nature of any potential incarceration mandated in the name of public health. But how many people would be candid in reporting symptoms and getting tested if they were aware that they, and potentially a hundred colleagues, could be incarcerated in quarantine camps with such hideous living conditions? Some may even feel (rightly or wrongly) that catching COVID-19 would be preferable…
This so-called “small price” could end up being a “false economy” if it results in more infections going untested/unreported/undetected. Or if it results in contagious persons violating quarantine (this proved to be the ‘chink in the armour’ of New Zealand’s strategy).
So proud of my daughter for speaking truth to power despite all the haters. Read a book! Know the science! Wake up, sheeple!
I object to being described as a “hater”. And no single individual can possibly know all “the science” — the sum of human knowledge is simply too vast. But we can and should inform ourselves on a variety of topics, and remain constantly open to being challenged as and when better reasoning or evidence arises (this is how real scientists work).
I stand by my conjecture: the prospect of inhumane quarantine conditions, such as those described in the ‘blog-post, are almost certain to result in many individuals deliberately failing to report COVID-19 symptoms and thus not getting tested. Therefore, to describe such conditions as a “small price to pay” is wrong, since *awareness* of such conditions will probably lead to more people behaving in a way that enables the virus to spread more easily (apologies if this explanation sounds patronising — evidently, Dennis Pastrami did not understand my previous comment, since his reply chooses to insult me rather than offer any counter-argument).
If anybody has any reasoning and/or evidence that suggests my conjecture to be mistaken, I am all ears.
Too vast for you, perhaps…
Here’s a most recent Danish study on mask wearing which has been stopped from being reviewed by major medical journals. I’m sure you’re aware of the vast censorship against research which disputes “official” version(s) of covid19.
https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/coronavirus/major-mask-study-rejected-multiple-journals-amid-rumors-it-shows-masks
A few articles found in under a minute Mr.
Pastrami…
https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m1931
https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m1931
https://www.facebook.com/randy.hillier/photos/a.190310250979319/3646397655370544/
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2164956120934768
Way to go, thank you for this Hanes
ad hominem. nice.
What do you mean by chink in the armor?
By “chink in the armour”, I mean a weakness in an otherwise robust strategy.
It is my understanding that New Zealand managed to eliminate COVID-19 at an early juncture. In order to prevent its return, the country imposed mandatory quarantine on people entering from almost anywhere else in the world (there were some exceptions for certain Pacific islands that were, at the time, thought to be completely free of COVID-19). Unfortunately, the security around quarantine hotels failed to prevent some people from violating quarantine, and this resulted in COVID-19 spreading into New Zealand once again. In other words, it was the running/management/security of the quarantine facilities that proved to be the “chink in the armour”.
Hence, my point is that the authorities cannot rely on people respecting quarantine requirements unconditionally. One can reduce the risk of non-compliance by ensuring decent living conditions (and having adequate security at the ‘cordon’). Thus, failure to ensure decent living conditions is categorically *not* a “small price to pay”.
I think this is partially propaganda. I don’t believe the musicians are in this bad of a situation. This sounds like fake news media playing the “classic” anti China card. I’m beginning to suspect this has all been a big ol’ baloney sandwich. Praying to almighty GOD that I am wrong. Thoughts?
Hate to see what you consider is a ‘big price’ to pay.
Something for America?
It works. Wuhan is covid free.
Do I have a bridge to sell you…
I can sell you the bridge and you get that big tower as a bonus.
Am I missing something here? Why can’t they just quarantine at home where there’s the potential for healthy food and wi-fi? I get that Hong Kong is now under a totalitarian state but this doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
You should see Hong Kong homes. The vast majority are HUGE apartment blocks. Just going out to buy food the average HK resident would run into DOZENS of people — hundreds after they had walked down the street.
This treatment of the musicians is indeed brutal and extreme. There are some who would find the lack of WiFi service particularly unendurable and clearly calculated to break the spirit.
I know of people, otherwise exemplary calm and balanced, suffering a nervous breakdown during quarantine’s 2nd day without internet.
There is a rehab institution in Frankfurt to help bank employees recover from internet withdrawel symptoms, where they use Arvo Pärt, veganism and mutual hugging sessions to get on the rails again. It’s quite expensive.
I’m glad Trump got tough on China, those red commie bastards.
Hong Kong people have never known democracy…either under British rule then or Communist rule now.
That is absolutely true.
North American Orchestras whatcha gonna do? smell my fingers with the Wuhan flu