There was panic shopping for food in Hong Kong in early March and people were devastated. What happened?
In the light of the fifth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, which is almost out of control, the government has decided to launch universal mandatory testing. Some officials even publicly said that the test might be launched alongside a lockdown. This stoked fears triggering the rapid emptying of supermarket shelves of tinned goods, frozen food and noodles as people stocked up against the possibility of a lockdown. With the increasing demand for food, vendors also increased prices to earn as much profit as possible.
The medical infrastructure has is struggled cope with the number of daily confirmed cases climbing over 50,000. Hospital isolation rooms are now saturated. Many people wait in the outside accident and emergency rooms to be treated. Many are elderly, which is tragic. In addition, in February, some cross-border truck drivers, who transport vegetables and other food items between Hong Kong and China, were also infected, leading to a mandatory quarantine which struck at Hong Kong’s food supply leading to price surges. The government has had discussions with the mainland authorities about transporting food to Hong Kong by train and ship, and the supply recovered to 70 per cent of normal levels. However, prices remain high and people are suffering.
Long queues are often seen outside pharmacies with people desperate to buy antipyretics, throat lozenges, cough syrup and even Chinese patent medicines—just in case they are needed for home quarantine in the future. To some degree, panic shopping is done for daily necessities, but it has more to do with the insecure environment. In the light of a policy with no clear plan and schedule, it is understandable that people feel uneasy.
Material preparation is important, but so is spiritual preparation. As Christians, we need to nourish our spiritual life with the daily bread from the Lord in this time of Lent. We are called to repentance and conversion, make restitution and do good.
Living in this “new normal”, we should show our faith through our values and deeds, spread the truth, and reject all evil and temptations. When we engage in charity, we can start with little things. As we store up goods, let us remember our neighbours in need and share what we have.
Although for now, we cannot gather with our friends, we can greet each other by phone and hear to each other’s voices. We also have various apps at our disposal to maintain communication despite geographical boundaries.
Due to the government’s pandemic restrictions, churches are closed. Many parishes provide Lenten devotional ‘set meals,’ daily Bible readings and sharing, online Bible study and other kinds of meetings on their websites or Facebook pages, so that the faithful can actively equip themselves to prepare for Jesus Christ’s resurrection.
Although we cannot pray and participate in physical Mass at the moment, we can participate in online Masses and receive the Eucharist spiritually.
This Sunday is the second Sunday of Lent, and I would like to encourage all of you to maintain a steadfast faith: “for if we do not give up, we shall have our harvest in due time” [Galatians 6:9]. SE
