Covid Cluster in Kennedy Town

Sai Wan Estate has been locked down after infections found

It was quite a surprise to see the University of Hong Kong's medical faculty posted a warning on Twitter for its staff and students to be aware that there is a Covid-19 cluster in Kennedy Town and to avoid eating and doing any "mask off activities" in the area!

Kennedy Town was where I lived for nine years, a sleepy residential area that soon became hipster when the MTR came in and droves of people came to check out Instagram pier (that unceremoniously closed almost two years ago), have coffee from Arabica and buy bulk food from Slowood.

Instagram pier was a fun photo-op place

When HKU medical faculty issued this warning, it was unusual because the Centre for Health Protection didn't report a growing cluster in this area in Western district. But the health authorities have since locked down an entire housing estate and found 22 infections out of 1,680 people tested so far. 

Yesterday Chuang Shuk-kwan of the CHP said they had found "very high viral loads" in the sewage samples from Sai Wan Estate, especially in its building called West Terrace.

All five blocks are locked down until Friday morning after compulsory testing is completed. 

Hong Kong recorded 294 new cases, and one death.

This contrasts significantly with Taiwan which has just over 90,000 new cases.

I arrived in Los Angeles this morning. To prepare for the flight we complied with all the requisite US government requirements: a rapid antigen test conducted by a medical professional (CAD$90 each) and have the written test result printed out, and a copy of the vaccination record. 

Flying into LA this morning

We uploaded all this information when we checked-in online, though for some reason when I uploaded my Hong Kong vaccination record it could not be done and I was instructed online to show this document at the airport.

Just in case I printed out everything, the attestation that we each tested negative and we were vaccinated (at least two jabs). When we arrived bleary-eyed at the airport at 5.30am, no one asked to see any of this paperwork, none of the airline staff nor US immigration officers...