I stayed in a quarantine hotel for two weeks AMA

[Cissyandflora]

I didn’t know whether to make a thread about this but I’ve been thinking that maybe people would be interested to know something of the experience. I was in Sydney and spent two weeks at the end of last year. If anyone has a question I’ll answer it!

@Silvercatowner

This terrifies me. The only reason I would have to travel would be if DD (on another continent) was seriously ill or had had a serious accident. Are there any situations where quarantine would be waived, does anyone know?

Ah well. There are certain circumstances where you can be escorted out of your room in full PPE if it’s a matter of life and death. Takes a lot of organising with all agencies. But you are returned back to your room.

I had actually travelled expecting my quarantine to be waived. It wasn’t.

Re: smoking
All hospitals in my state are by law non smoking. If patients are caught smoking inside the police can be called and security guards give fines.
Consequently, nurses are familiar with prescribing nicotine replacement. Hotel quarantine nurses were drawn from hospitals (mostly) so I’m sure smokers are sorted out quite well.

People are allowed out to visit hospitals under strict protocols and some movie stars and famous people were allowed to quarantine in private homes but this has caused a lot of complaint from the public (who overwhelmingly support the system we have).
No-one can have quarantine “waived”.

Very interesting thread. My friend did quarantine in Bangladesh a few weeks ago the hotel looked awful but the food looked amazing whole chargrilled chicken lots of grilled meats to your door and they had a balcony he shared a room with his friend weirdly I’m sure it was less then 10 days.

@hesterstanhope

People are allowed out to visit hospitals under strict protocols and some movie stars and famous people were allowed to quarantine in private homes but this has caused a lot of complaint from the public (who overwhelmingly support the system we have). No-one can have quarantine “waived”.

No i meant exemption rather than waived. I did have exemption but it took time to be arranged and was very strictly controlled. I felt more of a prisoner at this time and being returned to my hotel room felt like being released home. It was very strange.

2 solid weeks of sleep sounds divine to me. :)

I stayed in a Quarantine Hotel in Singapore in Oct/Nov for 14 days. I have a Dependents Pass for Singapore and my husband and his Company had to ask permission for me to return to Singapore from Scotland. When I landed I was very nicely moved through immigration and then asked to wait in a seating area. My bags were taken for me then I was ushered to a bus. I had no idea which hotel I was staying in and when we got there our bags were disinfected and our temps were taken
We filled out more forms and dietary requirements. I got my room, was escorted there and then left. I felt a bit scared as I was told under no circumstances should I leave my room. I put the air-con on, checked that the windows would open and settled down.
My husband was able to send me things, I asked for my coffee mug and some white wine and fizzy water and some snacks. I already had a laptop with Netflix and an iPad and books so I was ok there.
I had to download an App and three times a day take a selfie and record my temperature and send it to the tracers and they often called to make sure I was where I should be
The hotel staff called a few times just to check I was ok and there were little printed notes sometimes with the food that cheered me up.
The food in my hotel was absolutely fine if a bit boring but I was never hungry. Being in Asia there was a lot of rice which I get bored of and a lot of noodles which I absolutely love.
I knew there would be no cleaning so in my first care package I got cleaning wipes. We got new towels (all left outside the door) every 3 days and new linen. I changed my pillowcases but not my sheets, I'm a slattern!

On day 10 I was taken by a person in full PPE to a floor in the hotel to get a test. If that was negative I would be allowed out on day 14.
Once I got my Negative test the people who called to check I was there were so happy that I was negative. On day 14 I was packed up and got help with my luggage then had to go a certain quarantine way then I was free to go home.

I think because the US Election was happening while I was in quarantine it helped a lot, I watched a lot of CNN

@RacheyCat

When I quarantined, at first we got put in a fairly grotty hotel, so completely saturated with disinfectant that it made your eyes sting. The carpet in the corridors squelched when I first got taken to my room. There, my window opened and I was on the ground floor. I could have climbed out if I'd wanted to but probably would have got busted leaving the carpark.

After our first negative test results came back we got moved by ambulance to a much nicer hotel with a window that opened less wide. My husband was put in the room next to me both times. I didn't want to share with him but I don't think it was ever an option anyway.

Gosh did they split couples up?

@GreenUp

Did they cater for specialist diets like kosher, vegetarian, Coeliac or diabetic?

I don't see how people with coeliac disease would be able to eat things like bread rolls or cereal.

My worry too

Eh seems like my almost ok experience has been ignored. There was as I said options for dietary things.
WTF @Dowser why worry about that. They will give you food that you can eat

Yes, @dowser. I think it's better really. One of us could have got infected on the journey and then while sharing the room infect the other and then the country would be +2 covid cases rather than +1.

In both hotels you could call other rooms on the hotel phone, so we could still chat. Sometimes we'd both stick out heads out the door to get our meal deliveries at the same time. And I could hear his foghorn voice through the walls in the first place when he was teaching his classes online. "COSINE...blah blah blah...SINE...blah blah... WHERE IS YOUR CALCULATOR, EDWIN?"

Really, I love my husband, but I don't want to be imprisoned in a room with him.

@OrraBoralis I like that you had to take a selfie. That cute. We had to take a photo of our thermometer twice a day and post it into the group chat. Some people got quite artistic and made little tableaus. I struggled even to get mine in focus. The first thermometer they sent me was broken. I'd never used a glass thermometer before and I couldn't tell if I was just a moron or if it was actually defective.

Did anyone else have to put special powder on their poo before they flushed it away?