Our Experience: Covid & Home Quarantine

And just like that, on a super rainy Sunday afternoon last week, my mum sent a brief message in the family WhatsApp group saying that both my parents were tested positive for Covid. We also had the feeling that sister could be too because she was slowing showing similar symptoms. 

I can't represent the whole family on what our initial response to that was. However, I guess I can say that for a brief moment, we all felt daunted and saddened by the news. We knew that at some point, despite all the SOPs and careful precautions we took for the past 2 years, there would come a time when the virus slips through and affect us. 

Luckily for us, as a household, we were all fully vaccinated and boosted. For my sister and me, we had our booster just 2-3 weeks ago before Covid was on us. 

Updating Our MySejahtera

This was safe to speak, painfully annoying to deal with - the app. Not fun at all. On Sunday, both my parents had updated their Covid status on their app and received the HSO. Later that day I updated my own status as close contact but it took another 24 hours before I got the orange status "Close Contact". And then on Tuesday I believe, my status changed back to blue and I was considered low risk... despite living with three confirmed/possible Covid patients.

I didn't want the risk of being asymptomatic and passing on the virus at work, I requested to WFH until everybody is well again and showing no other symptoms. 

Social Distancing Among Ourselves at Home

This wasn't much of a problem for us. We each have our own rooms so for most part of the quarantine period, we stayed inside continuing our work or classes as usual. If we wanted to take food or drink, cook or whatever outside of our rooms, we wore masks. For those of us with Covid, we had gloves after washing our hands.

Food, Health Supplements and Grocery Shopping 

For the first 2 days of quarantine, we mostly ordered our meals through GrabFood or FoodPanda but it got to the point that eating outside food made us feel queasy. Plus, ordering meals for a family of four is pretty expensive. We wanted something fresh and simple. Unfortunately, most of our ingredients had run out, we didn't have the time to get to the grocers and stock up on food supplies before the quarantine. 

Luckily, a close friend of mine suggested to use HappyFresh app to handle the grocery delivery part because it worked out for him in 2021 when we had the endless lockdowns and MCOs (oh yes, what a time that was). All we had to do was download the app, look up for Lotus and add the items we need to our shopping cart. All the ordered items were delivered the next day.

As for our meds and extra supplements to help with the coughs and fever, there's quite a selection of pharmacies nearby to get our stock. The rest we ordered from a relative.    

Work From Home (WFH)

It had been pretty bearable actually, I wasn't a stranger to staying at home for long periods of time and working from the comfort of my home. And the best part was that during my short breaks, I'd spent 10 minutes to play with my cats Leo and Dessi before continuing to complete my tasks for the day. 

Of course there were downsides to WFH and self-quarantine for an extensive amount of time. I missed my routine of working in the office on certain days of the week, eating lunch together with the colleagues, and socialising with my friends outside. I also developed the craziest food cravings and was ordering foods and snacks from the apps every few days. 

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I'm glad that part of my life is over (for now... can't really be sure with the pandemic still around) and I'm back to being on the outside. 

Have you guys been under quarantine or similar situations before? What was that experience like for you?