Hongkong – Hard times have come for Hong Kong hamsters. Omicron is here! It’s a little surprising given that Hong Kong is like a fortress and has such restrictive rules that there hasn’t been a single case for months.
Those arriving – of whom there are few anyway, there is an apocalyptic mood at Hong Kong airport – are isolated and sealed off immediately after their arrival, tested and, if the test result is negative, carted to their quarantine hotel for 21 days. There they sit on their bed for three weeks and post on social media how they pass the time. Every third day, a team in protective suits appears at your room door and tests again.
Those unfortunate enough to test positive at any point in this procedure will be taken to Penny’s Bay Quarantine Centre, a government-run quarantine center housing about 3,500 people in hundreds of temporary containers in a remote corner of Lantau Island. It’s only one of five government quarantine centers, but it’s the largest and by far the worst-reputed. Terrible horror stories are told about Penny’s Bay that even a maximum security prison might seem like a five star hotel compared to this facility.
Fear of the quarantine camp
Fearing Penny’s Bay, many Hong Kongers are moving out of the downtown skyscrapers into the more sparsely populated outskirts to avoid being classified as “close contact” and sent to quarantine camps. Because as soon as a case is identified, entire blocks of houses are cordoned off and their residents are tested and are only allowed to leave their apartments if the test result is negative. The tracing of contacts is also carried out retrospectively with such meticulousness that a single case can send hundreds to the quarantine camp and recently reports have been circulating that chaos has broken out in Penny’s Bay and that in some cases the distribution of meals has not even been able to keep up.
But what does all this have to do with hamsters and omicrons?
After a flight attendant from the Cathay Pacific airline failed to comply with the applicable quarantine rules on Christmas Day and went out to eat with his family, there are now local infections here again, both with Omicron and with Delta, which indicates different transmission chains. In the beginning there were three cases, now it’s around ten a day. However, the reaction to these outbreaks has now taken on bizarre features.
Eleven hamsters tested positive
First of all, all sports facilities, fitness studios, playgrounds, museums and amusement parks were closed immediately, restaurants are no longer allowed to serve after 6 p.m., only two people are allowed to sit at a table (and if they are your own children: they are sitting at the neighboring table!), concerts and other events are cancelled. Primary schools and kindergartens were closed three days later.
The most recent case of the “We don’t know any mercy – strategy” is now triggering ridicule and outrage on the Internet. An employee of a pet shop had become infected, after which all staff and numerous customers were quarantined and tested. The pet shop was also thoroughly investigated, which revealed that 11 hamsters were corona positive. It was not determined how the hamsters felt about it.
Orders were then made to kill all hamsters living in pet shops. 2000 hamsters and other small animals, all imported on December 22, 2021 and January 7, 2022, are the target of this measure. In addition, the small rodents’ private owners were asked to hand over their cute pets to meet the same fate after being tested. The import of hamsters has been stopped.
Suddenly everyone on the internet is talking about hamsters, moving stories between resistance and fear are circulating. A combative hamster owner accuses the government of genocide against hamsters and says she will not give up her hamster. Only when the high-ranking participants of a birthday party at which infections had occurred could also be eliminated would she consider extraditing him. Yes, even Hong Kong has its party affair!
Guinea pigs and rabbits are also affected
Another concerned pet owner went to the vet to find out what was happening to his hamster. On his return, however, he was horrified to find that his family had already provided facts in his absence and had thrown the hamster into the garbage chute. Although he searched all the garbage bags, he couldn’t find him.
There is great sympathy for the mini fur balls, and numerous supporters have gathered on social media channels. About thirty abandoned hamsters have already been found and rescued on the streets, while the windmill fight against the small rodents continues. Guinea pigs and rabbits are now among the animals that have tested positive.
Although it is also officially admitted that since the beginning of the pandemic there has been no evidence of transmission from infected pets to humans, that the animals can infect each other, but usually do not become seriously ill and will recover without treatment justified the murderous campaign as protecting public health. It could be the first case in the world in which a human was infected by a hamster.
If it weren’t so sad, you’d have to laugh at the highly armored fight against the tiny furballs. The huge wave of support they arouse is not surprising, given that their sacrifice is an expression of an increasingly misguided counter-strategy that has lost all sense of proportion.
The author lives in Hong Kong. She doesn’t have a hamster.
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