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Old Sep 25, 2020, 4:31 am
  #7  
brunos
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Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave
The conditions do look a bit grim, I must say. There are better appointed prisons in the Nordics. It may prompt the authorities to do something about this, otherwise I can imagine cabin crew will be very reluctant to go there. And at some point BA will say "it's not worth it". I remember the efforts they did recently to secure crews flying into BEY for example, and that was just some demonstrations. PCR (swab) testing is the best we have, but it's still not perfect, and a 2 week quarantine based on someone else in a crew showing up positive is to say the least a tough outcome.
Indeed.
The "positive" accomodation is basic but clean and safe. That is the lot of every HongKonger testing positive without symptoms. Medical surveillance is excellent and transfer to hospital rapid if symptoms. Food can be brought from the outside and will be left by the hospital staff at the door. Contact cases might be housed elsewhere. But they won't be allowed to get out of their room for the duration of their quarantine.

Note that HK is very strict with covid. HK had less than 150 daily cases at the top of the "third" wave (population 7.5M) and is now down to a couple of cases per day. Many cases had been imported cases, majority from UK returning students early summer.

To illustrate the protocol: I just arrived in HK yesterday. All arriving pax are tested at the airport. Arriving in the afternoon, I was taken by bus to a government-run hotel to spend the night awaiting for the results. Pax arriving in the morning wait results at the airport (typically 8 hours). Then I went home with total isolation (no right to go out whatsoever) with an electronic wristband linked to my mobile phone that detects if you go out and send an alert. Friends and delivery services bring food to my door. If my test was positive and no symptoms, I would have been taken to the same facility as the BA FA. The only difference is that airline personnel can wait results at their hotel (but forbiden to leave their room).

NOTE that UK has just been placed on the high-risk list (like India, USA,..). All UK arriving pax and crew will have to undergo a PCR test within 72h of departure. They also are required to book a hotel for 14 days and not leave their room. This is to avoid the risk of family/friends contamination if they stay at their HK home.

Last edited by brunos; Sep 25, 2020 at 5:01 am
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