“All passengers in the U.S. must prove they tested negative for Covid-19 within three days of their flight to Hong Kong….” – Bruce Einhorn, Bloomberg News
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Doing business in Hong Kong just became a whole lot harder. According to Bloomberg News writer, Bruce Einhorn, it will be nearly impossible for Americans to travel to Hong Kong for the near future...or longer. Mr. Einhorn’s article, “Hong Kong Virus Policy Threatens to Block Most U.S. Travelers,” tells us that “All passengers in the U.S. must prove they tested negative for Covid-19 within three days of their flight to Hong Kong….”
The problem is that “…in many parts of the U.S., getting results from a Covid-19 test within 72 hours is nearly impossible. Because of skyrocketing demand, hospitals are still finding themselves short on supplies and even major labs, like Quest Diagnostics Inc., are so bogged down that the turnaround times can exceed a week.”
The U.S. toy industry and Hong Kong have a long, profoundly inter-woven history. Visiting Hong Kong to engage in toy business, several times a year for some has been a long-standing and necessary tradition.
Those toy companies, which have offices in Hong Kong, will, of course, fare better than those who don’t, but we are all going to have to determine how best way to bridge the divide until things get better. And they don’t appear to be getting better any time soon.
There are concerns that China could close the U.S. consulate in Hong Kong in retaliation for the U.S. closing China’s Houston consulate. And don’t forget that the U.S. is unpegging the link between the U.S. and Hong Kong dollars.
The current testing requirements will, hopefully, end when U.S. coronavirus cases are under control, and from what we are currently seeing, that appears to be months away. Longer-term troubles between the two countries look like they will last for a longer.
Nobody told us that life was going to be easy.
