It’s been a weird few days - based on the number and breadth of questions I got from caring co-workers, worried whanau and friends who are like family I thought I would write it all down in one place. Might also be useful if someone bumps upon this online if they are going through the same thing!

Disclaimer: I am sure everyone’s experience will be unique even within HK so I will only write about what happened to us, don’t assume this would be the exact same thing that would happen to you in a similar situation. It all seems pretty fluid and changeable!

Background/what happened: On March 30th my husband tested positive for Coronavirus and now he is in Hospital in Isolation (no symptoms) and I am in a Government Quarantine Facility / Camp (Fo Tan).

FAQs:

• How are you both?

  • We are both fine, no symptoms

  • Update May 17th - still no symptoms and now both tested negative

• I saw one of you in person a few weeks ago should I be worried?

  • Obviously there is no certain way to know when/where he got it but he had been out of Hong Kong for 14 days before he arrived and tested positive. So if you had contact with him (or me) before he left enough time has passed that you are likely fine. As no one he had contact with has had any symptoms the govt and us are assuming he arrived with it on Mar 28th, neither of us saw anyone between him arriving and the positive test result.

• How/why did he get tested if he has no symptoms?

  • He arrived back from a 2 week trip, on a Saturday night, by that point HK was testing anyone who had been in Europe in the last 14 days.

• How did the test get done?

  • He was given a test kit at the airport, to bring home, he was required to do the test the following morning. He spat into a specimen bottle, it was double bagged then I was required to take it to one of 3 collection points on HK island open on a Sunday morning (in Wan Chai). I just dropped it in a box.

• How/when did he find out he was positive?

  • Monday afternoon he received a phone call to tell him he had tested positive. They asked him lots of questions about how he was feeling to check if he had symptoms.

• How did he catch it?

  • No idea, he traveled to a few places recently, it was more than likely in transit/while traveling but of course no way to know for sure.

• What did he have to do once being told?

  • Immediately put a mask on and keep his distance from anyone in the house, and not leave the house. They also told him he would be taken to the hospital once a bed became available. They asked to speak to me next.

• What did you (the close contact) have to do once he was tested positive?

  • They spoke to me on the phone, asked me lots of questions to check if I had any symptoms, and told me I would need to go to a “Quarantine Camp”. They told me to keep my distance from him and not leave the house.

• Why can’t you just stay at home and do quarantine there?

  • I offered, they said it isn’t an option for close contacts, and I have to go to the camp.

• When did you have to go to the camp/him to the hospital?

  • On the first phone call they couldn’t give either of us a time or date. They just us to pack our bags. He ended up going one day later, I went two days later.

• How did he get to the hospital?

  • He was given a phone call with 30mins warning (he bargained to get it to 1 hour) then 3 people in full protective suits arrived at our door and drove him in an ambulance to Princess Margaret Hospital.

• How did you get to Quarantine Camp?

  • I got a phone call with about 4 hours notice, then 1 person in a full protective suit arrived at our door and walked me to a small bus, with another person in full protective suit driving, and 3 other people also headed for the same fate.

• What’s the experience like, having tested positive for coronavirus and being in the Hospital?

  • He is in a room with another man, whose bed is around 1.5m away. The other person also has no symptoms (no idea if that was intentional or coincidence). The room has those double door things where only one door to the room can be open at a time and there is a gap between. They put their meals through a hole in the door and the guys both take their own blood pressure and temperature so the medical staff don’t have to come in so often. When they do they are fully suited up.

• Has he been tested again since the original test?

  • Yes, within the first 24 hours in hospital he had already been tested twice more. He got the results on 2 Apr (still positive but low virus count) and will be tested again in a few days most likely.

  • Update May 17th - he got tested every 2nd day for the whole hospital stay (6 weeks)

• What other tests and stuff did they do in the hospital?

  • They’ve done more swabs, drawn blood, done an ECG. He doesn’t really know what they are looking for as such. Some of the blood was going to the University for research (with his permission).

• Hows the hospital food?

  • Lots of rice, Asian style meals, it’s not too bad.

  • Update May 17th - It gets bad after 6 weeks on repeat

• Can he have deliveries/visitors?

  • Yes people can bring things to him and the medical staff will deliver to his room. No visitors (probably obvious ;) )

• How long does he have to stay in hospital?

  • From all accounts, until he tests negative twice in a row.

  • Update May 17th - you can now also leave hospital if your viral count is low and you have antibodies (shown via a blood test).

• What’s it like at Government Quarantine Camp in Hong Kong Fo Tan?

  • The one I am at is Chun Yeung Estate, Wong Chuk Yeung Street, Fo Tan. It’s an almost-completed housing estate / apartment complex. There are maybe 5 blocks, around 40 floors in each. The floors are pretty large, around 30 apartments on each floor.

• What was the arrival process like?

  • We sat in the bus for a while on arrival while we waited for them to fuss over two of the girls who were showing temperatures over 37. Then they told us about how we have to record our temperature twice a day, gave us a thermometer, pen and paper and emergency number. Then we got off the bus, went into a greeting kind of room where a lovely woman explained it all to me (WiFi, meals etc.) then they gave me my welcome kits and sent me alone into the elevator to find my room. They called me on the room phone, after about 15mins, to confirm I was in my room.

• What’s your room like?

  • See photos below, it is one main room, with a separate kitchen and bathroom. The floor is unfinished (concrete) but other than that it all feels quite new. The only furniture is two small tables, a single bed, a folding chair, a wardrobe. The kitchen only has a sink, no other appliances. There are locks on the window bars so you cannot remove them, but can open the windows still. Randomly they provide a hairdryer, and a tiny TV (wasn’t expecting that!). It’s all ok except the bed has basically no mattress to speak of and the folding chair will be pretty uncomfortable for an 8 hour workday! (Update: chair is not too bad with a pillow, and they provided me extra blankets to use to sleep on).

• What is provided / what did they give you?

  • I got 3 bags handed to me containing:

    • a packed dinner as I guess we missed dinner time

    • 2 rolls toilet paper, a huge shampoo bottle, a huge shower gel bottle, and a full-size toothpaste

    • a small cup, small bowl, small plate, fork, spoon (all plastic), a facecloth, a comb, a toothbrush, minis of: toothpaste/shower gel/shampoo, 1 x cup noodle, 1 x 1L water

• Have you been tested?

  • Not yet, I would like to be though so if I don’t get tested in the first couple of days I will ask them.

  • Update May 17th - I got tested 2 days before I got out - tested negative.

• How long do you have to stay there?

  • 14 days. I get out at 23:59 on 14th April. It started counting from when they took him to hospital i.e. from when I was by myself at home for the first time.

• What are the rules in camp?

  • Cannot leave your room for anything at all except to visit the medical place downstairs if pre-arranged.

  • No smoking, no visitors, no visiting other rooms.

  • People can bring you stuff, but not alcohol ;)

• How do you get food if you can’t leave?

  • There is a weekly menu with 4 choices for each of the 3 meals a day, you select all your choices and leave it in a folder on the outside of your door.

  • They deliver the food during fixed hours, knock and leave it outside your door.

• What’s the food like?

  • For the highly curious I photographed the menu options. It isn’t to my tastes, but I had been warned so I have a LOT of snacks with me. I will probably never eat another BBQ chicken packet noodle again after this. (Update: Food is ok so far but really glad for the snacks).

• How will you get home after it all?

  • They will drop me home again in one of those buses I guess. They kindly offered to let me stay an extra night because my stay ends at midnight, I declined and said I was quite happy to be driven home at midnight!

  • Update May 17th - They offered buses just to the MTR station so I took a taxi home instead.

Those are all the questions I can think of right now…. I will add more if they come to me! I will also write a post daily while I am in here (likely to mainly consist of photos of bad food, and the same view at different times of day - you have been warned).