Isolation, boredom, and a 151 sq ft space: the conditions of Hong Kong’s coronavirus quarantine camps
- Reading while walking in circles, taking online classes, and trying to sleep without a mattress
- Four Post employees talk about their time in quarantine at the Chun Yeung Estate in Fo Tan.
When a freelance reporter with Young Post, the student edition of the South China Morning Post, tested positive for the coronavirus on March 17, some staff and freelancers were taken to government quarantine camps as required under new public health rules.
Those who had been in close contact with her were tested, and a timeline was constructed of who had been with patient zero, for how long, whether they were masked, and whether they had been eating or drinking together.
As the picture became clearer, two of the group were held in hospitals while others hunkered down in place. The two in hospital were sent directly to quarantine in the Chun Yeung Estate in Fo Tan. All were ultimately given a clean bill of health. Here, four of them describe their experiences in quarantine.
Dannie Higginbotham
If something weird can happen to me, it does. I was the only one on my team to be hospitalised after the Spartan Race for a bacterial infection. I’ve been robbed at knifepoint in Ecuador.
So, when the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) told me I was considered a close contact of someone who tested positive for Covid-19, and would have to go to the government quarantine centre in Fo Tan, I thought, “Yep. Of course”.