Timzone reset after removing tzdata

I followed the instructions here: https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Setting\_the\_timezone

They work, except for the last step of removing the `tzdata` package. See the steps below. The `date` command uses the correct timezone. Once I remove the `tzdata` package, `date` reverts back to UTC. If I install `tzdata` back, the `date` command shows the correct timezone again.

/ # date
Fri Apr 5 15:00:51 UTC 2019

/ # apk add tzdata
fetch http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.8/main/x86\_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz
fetch http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.8/community/x86\_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz
(1/1) Installing tzdata (2018f-r0)
Executing busybox-1.28.4-r0.trigger
OK: 369 MiB in 128 packages

/ # cp /usr/share/zoneinfo/US/Pacific /etc/localtime
/ # echo “US/Pacific” >/etc/timezone
/ # date
Fri Apr 5 08:06:25 PDT 2019

/ # apk del tzdata
(1/1) Purging tzdata (2018f-r0)
Executing busybox-1.28.4-r0.trigger
OK: 365 MiB in 127 packages

/ # date
Fri Apr 5 15:15:27 UTC 2019

/ # apk add tzdata
(1/1) Installing tzdata (2018f-r0)
Executing busybox-1.28.4-r0.trigger
OK: 369 MiB in 128 packages

/ # date
Fri Apr 5 08:15:56 PDT 2019

(from redmine: issue id 10200, created on 2019-04-05)