One week ago today Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng announced in a press conference his“difficult but necessary” decision to order the temporary closure of the city’s 41 casinos and dozens of other entertainment venues for half a month as part of his government’s string of measures to protect local citizens from the novel coronavirus epidemic.
Now we all know that his cool-headed decision was not only, as he openly admitted, difficult and necessary but also absolutely expedient. In other words, his right decision came at the right time.
Ho announced the rather drastic measure on the same day when Macau’s 10th patient with novel coronavirus pneumonia (NCP) – as the highly infectious disease is now officially known –was confirmed. Since then – at least until late last night when I was writing this editorial – the number of locally confirmed cases has remained unchanged at 10. Of course, Health Bureau (SSM) officials admitted at yesterday’s daily press conference by the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre about the viral menace that they could not rule out the existence of “hidden” cases in Macau, considering that 29 people have been diagnosed with the disease elsewhere, most of them in Zhuhai, after recently having visited or worked in Macau. But, of course, this does not mean that they got infected in Macau or that they infected anyone here.
Well, so far Macau seems to confirm – touch wood – the long-held folk belief that our beloved city is a “lucky land” (“fuk dei” in Cantonese) that is eternally protected by three divinities – Kun Iam, A-Ma and the Virgin Mary.
I have been quite impressed by my fellow Macau residents as they have shown remarkable discipline during the current crisis. Almost all of them are wearing facemasks when out and about (including my-humble-self) and initial panic buying and hoarding has quickly subsided. I always thought that the right combination of self-discipline and communal discipline is the most efficient way of tackling a threat to civil society – such as the current NCP menace.
The government’s decision to sell 10 facemasks at the fixed price of 8 patacas to all residents and non-resident workers every 10 days is another praiseworthy decision. Acute public health challenges cannot be left to the market forces of supply and demand– as some Hong Kong officials wrongly claimed at the outset of the epidemic.
So let’s all stay disciplined in our collective response to the NCP challenge by staying positive and optimistic. Viruses come and go (hopefully sooner rather than later) but Macau is here to stay. All this reminds me of a great adage that a Macanese senior citizen told me in the erstwhile “Belo” café in the 1980s: Despite everything and everyone, Macau will always be Macau. Well, the novel coronavirus should take note…
HaraldBrüning
