Up Close and Personal

 So, this month is for us an experience of our country's pandemic response up close and personal...

Tuesday Grace and Aiden attend their usual Chinese classes.

Thursday we were told by Grace and Aiden's Chinese school a parent had tested positive for Covid-19 so classes going forward would be online for a while.

Friday we hear rumors of a nation wide lock down to be imposed again.

Saturday the official notice comes out: a month long lock down, but not nearly so all-inclusive as the last one, starting Monday.

Sunday, we get a call the school saying a classmate of Grace has tested positive also, so, through the contact tracing system in place, we soon hear from the Ministry of Health, mandating Grace show up for testing and immediate quarantine.

Working on translating instructions
 while waiting for test

Monday Mom and Grace set off early for Grace's 9am testing appointment. The testing is free as it is required through contact tracing, but we have to go to a specific clinic (13km from us) rather than the one less than a km from our house. The system is efficient and well thought out, though we didn't envy the workers in full gear working without air con or even fans for the most part. We thought we may have communication difficulties, it being a government run facility, but we did not - other than having to use Google translate for our instruction sheet! - and things were pretty straight forward. Details were checked, symptoms were recorded (none), a pink "person under investigation" bracelet was attached. These are well-known and you'd better not be caught out of the house with one on!

We get home about 10:40am and immediately begin arranging things for her quarantine. Thankfully she is allowed to do it at home. But it does mean we have to rearrange sleeping arrangements, meal times, school requirements, outside teacher arrangements.... isolation of one in a family of 5 in an apartment is not so simple! There will be surprise visits by health officials to check we're complying so we have to try meet the requirements effectively without turning our household upside down.

While the rules can seem somewhat invasive, strict, and inconvenient, we are glad to be where there is a robust system in place to keep the pandemic in check.