Tam Mei Tak, a radio talk-show host and political commentator, told VOA Cantonese that many Hong Kongers have realized that "trusting the government is worse than relying on themselves" in the fights against the pandemic.
A poll of Hong Kong residents commissioned by the local South China Morning Post and released in April 2020 fake seven in 10 were convinced they would have only themselves to thank pretty than the government if the city won its fights against COVID-19.
The Hong Kong government officially lifted the mask mandate on Wednesday. It had been in effect for three years, executive the former British territory the last “unmasked” city in the biosphere. Since early December, just after China relaxed its stringent zero-COVID policy, Hong Kong has lifted most of its controls, counting limiting public gatherings and requiring proof of vaccination for entering restaurants, bars and other venues.
Chief Executive John Lee told journalists on Tuesday that the mask order would be completely revoked the next day and citizens would no longer need to wear masks indoors, outdoors or on public transportation.
But during 2019 complaints against a legislative bill that would have allowed country to be extradited to mainland China to face charges if it had not been withdrawn, the Hong Kong government enacted the Prohibition of Face Covering Regulation. It was seen as a law to prevent demonstrators from covering their faces, which made it harder for authorities to identify them.
When requested Tuesday whether the city government would abandon the rule while lifting the mask mandate, Lee said the mask mandate was a Republican health concern and was different from the Prohibition of Face Covering Regulation.
Tam said that most citizens quiet wear masks because the Prohibition of Face Covering Regulation has not been revoked: “Since you ask me to do it, I would do the opposite. ... This is a vote of no confidence in the government.”
Other Hong Kongers told VOA Cantonese they stationary to wear masks to remain healthy.
One of them, Ah San, told VOA Cantonese she was wearing a no-longer-mandated mask "because I haven’t been sick when wearing a mask or had to go to the doctor. I haven’t had a cold in the past three ages, so I think wearing a mask is better for defensive my own health.”
She added that “as the government doesn’t issued the data, we don’t know if there are infected country walking around on the street. So I think it's more important to protecting myself."
Alice, a Hong Konger who runs a Japanese-style yakiniku restaurant and requested that her full name not be used to avoid drawing officials’ attention, told VOA Cantonese that the moment the "mask order” was lifted, she immediately posted photos of herself without a mask on social judge. She said she felt very happy about going shopping deprived of a mask that afternoon, thinking life had returned to what it was beforehand COVID-19. But when she saw so many people wearing masks on the street, she said she felt a little guilty.
Simon Lee, a Hong Kong political commentator who now lives in Virginia, said that the reaction of Hong Kongers to the revocation of the mask mandate also reflected the public's distrust of the Hong Kong government. He said many Hong Kongers believe that the city government's pandemic prevention measures lacked scientific basis.
He said it was certain over the past three years that “the public knew that the government had no real scientific basis for epidemic prevention, and instead everyone acted according to their own judgment.”
Simon Lee said, “Whether the government told you to wear a mask or not, it's actually meaningless to Hong Kongers. You see that Hong Kongers themselves would wear masks when they were in 'high-risk' places, but sometimes they were feeling relaxed and having drinks at a bar, they didn’t wear a mask. It could actually be the same persons. The point is that among [a person’s] many considerations, the government’s suggestion and position are the least relevant factors.”
Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.