W ong Wing-yan closed the doors of the empty bedrooms so she didn't have to think about the people who used to live in them. Some of the rooms are being used as storage closets, stacked with personal protective equipment and other items. The photos of loved ones were once displayed on the walls, but they are no longer there.
Wong, a bespectacled nurse in her thirties, said that there were many empty rooms as she walked through the facility. When I look at the empty rooms, I am depressed.
The Kei Tak Home For the Aged was spared for two years and four previous waves of the disease. 17 residents tested positive. It was 30 after that. After two months, 27 of the nursing home's 200 residents had died from the disease.
Wong, who has worked at Kei Tak for more than 10 years, said that the elderly home turned into a battlefield due to the overload of hospitals.
The battle against the fifth wave of COVID-19 was fought by foot. Hong Kong became the place with the highest death rate in the world during February and April. In a 10-week period, some 9000 lives were lost as Hong Kong was taken off guard by the Omicron variant.
The hospital was overwhelmed. Horrifying photos began circulating on social media of frail elderly people, bundled in blankets, lying on gurneys in the driveway of hospitals. There were so many corpses that they had to keep them in containers. There were body bags in some hospitals. Many bodies were left to decay before they could be buried or cremated because crematoriums couldn't keep up with demand.
Hong Kong became China's biggest carbon dioxide problem.
Hong Kong imposed some of the toughest infection control measures in the world despite the fact that vaccines were widely available for a year prior. Over reliance on such measures led to vaccine apathy. The elderly population was vulnerable because of a low vaccine rate. Only 25% of Hong Kong residents aged 80 and older had been jabbed in the month of January. Most of the people who died in the fifth wave were notvaccinated.
At other elderly care facilities, the toll was much heavier. By the end of the fifth wave, most of the deaths in Hong Kong were in nursing homes. It is not clear if Hong Kong has learned from the mistakes of earlier this year. Three new deaths were announced by the government on July 25. The two dead didn't receive any vaccine doses. The vaccine status of the third has not been reported.
The low rate of elderly vaccination is believed to be the cause of the high toll.
The authorities have made two vaccines available for free to the public, both of which use the same technology as Pfizer's vaccine. Wong says she and other nurses at Kei Tak tried their best to get their residents jabbed, but in many cases this required authorization from the residents' families, who were often hesitant, fearing that underlying conditions like high blood pressure or a history of strokes would make elderly people unsuitable recipients. Millions of people with those conditions in the U.S. and Europe are getting vaccines.
As China's Lockdown Continues, Global Shortages Are Looming.
There were rumors about deaths related to vaccinations. Even if vaccination played no part in the deaths of people who died within 14 days of being vaccine free, local newspapers were still sowed with fear. Government messages made the uncertainty worse. Sophia Chan suggested to the public that if they are uncertain about their own situation, they can actually consult their family doctors to understand more.
Many people in aged care and their families decided that vaccines were riskier than they were. There were consequences at Kei Tak.
The deputy head of the facility, a doctor named Poon Yui-pan, said he tried to treat the residents with ice packs and vitamins from the store. It wasn't necessary to call emergency services to get help. According to local media, wait times for an ambulance stretched more than 30 hours. Many people in Hong Kong recovered while waiting for a bed, because the hospitals were so crowded.
Kei Tak didn't have enough room to keep the residents isolated from the virus, which spread quickly. Some workers stopped coming in or quitting because they were worried about catching the disease. Wong continued with her work even though she tested positive. All of the residents she looked after had contracted the virus by that time. She feels a responsibility to take care of them.
The Chinese public is divided over a zero- carbon approach.
Wong excitedly touches the 92-year-old woman's necklace while she talks about how the woman's family didn't want her to have her vaccine. She reminisces about how she used to watch her favorite TV show in the 1990s. The resident, who was a farmer when she was younger, was always smiling and sharing stories about her family. She would always ask if Wong had eaten before she started eating.
The nurse said that she was like a family to her.
The elderly lady died during the fifth wave, one of many victims who have passed away in relative anonymity. There hasn't been a lot of public mourning for the dead. There are no memorial plaques or stories about the lives of those who died in the local press. The family members of several patients from Kei Tak nursing home who died of carbon dioxide refused to be interviewed by Time or have the names of their family members revealed.
Most people don't want to talk about death. The reticence is more pronounced in Hong Kong. People in China don't talk about death because they think it may bring bad luck.
There has been no real discussion over the large number of deaths that could have been avoided.
In a rare admission, the city's then leader said in a June interview that her administration could have done more to prevent elderly deaths. She said no when asked if she wanted to apologize to the Hong Kong people.
Things have gotten better. New nursing home residents are now required to get a vaccine. Outreach teams have been sent to elderly homes and the government has begun offering a home vaccine service. Only half of the population over the age of 70 had received three doses of the vaccine on July 20. 80% of people 75 and older in the U.K. received a fourth dose within two months of becoming eligible.
Taiwan is abandoning it's zero carbon strategy.
In order to protect the unvaccinated, the city still clings to social distance, mask mandates, and other measures. It could be a problem. The hospital system in Hong Kong is in danger of becoming stretched as the number of new cases increased on July 26. If the government opens Hong Kong's borders and loosens COVID-19 controls, there could be spikes.
According to Grace Li Fai, chairwoman of the Elderly Services Association of Hong Kong, about 100 care homes had reported new cases by early July. Older people who don't live in care facilities are being affected by COVID-19. According to the South China Morning Post, the majority of those hospitalized for COVID-19 are over the age of 65.
Life is moving on at Kei Tak, according to Wong. Some residents who were too depressed to eat after the fifth wave are eating again. There are a lot of new people here.
Kei Tak is prepared for a surge. The vaccination rate at the home has reached almost 100% and officials have inspected the system. The home has not had any new confirmed cases. Wong has been prepared for a sixth wave.
The scars are still present. The city has aged care facilities. Wong believes that Hong Kong is a civilized society. Something like this could happen here.
You can write to Amy Gunia at amy.gunia@time.com
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