Week 2: Stay Home Notice, Hotel Room Cooking, COVID-19 Test

Day 9 ("Day 8")
Today’s the first day in the past week that work's been a reasonable volume.

During my daily temperature call, the front desk lady checked if I received the COVID-19 test notification, and if I had any questions. I did- I wanted to know how I would get back into my room as the previous room key I got was one time use only. She explained that the front desk would provide a new one when my test was done.

Today dragged on and on. Lethargy really set in and I found myself mindlessly scrolling through social media and feeling tired from the frustration of doing nothing.

Day 10 ("Day 9")

I got a call to my mobile phone a little before 10 AM from an ICA contractor. She verified my identity and reminded me about my test tomorrow morning. I asked if I was allowed to leave my room unaccompanied for my test, and she confirmed so while adding that some hotels assign staff to usher individuals on SHN to their test site. She elaborated that I was to head straight to the assigned test site and nowhere else in the hotel, and then head immediately back to my room after the test.

During the daily temperature check, the lady confirmed that I received details about my appointment and I verified them with her. In the late afternoon I received another reminder text from the Health Promotion Board (HPB) about my test tomorrow.

I decided to use some leftover beef gravy to make a marinated gravy egg overnight in the fridge.

Day 11 ("Day 10"): COVID-19 Test
The chipotle sausage for breakfast today tasted like 5 spiced powder and the scrambled eggs were doused in salt. After breakfast, I found myself checking the time on my phone repeatedly to make sure I wasn't late for the test at 10. Today was the first time that I really wished there was a huge clock somewhere in the room.

I was making microwave blueberry jam until a few minutes before 10 AM and then hurried out and took the lift down to the second floor conference room. By the second floor elevator, a man in full PPE (mask, face shield, gown, gloves) took down my room number and confirmed my identity. He directed me around the corner to wait across a stand with a sign that read "SHN COVID-19 test 10:00 AM to 4:30 PM." Through the doorway I was standing in front of, I could see the conference room with 3 people in PPE waiting. The entire room's carpet was covered and taped with large bright red plastic sheets; not a single centimetre of carpet was left exposed from one end of the room to the other.

I was genuinely worried I would lose track of time.

After a few minutes, a man came from another doorway in the conference room and checked that everyone waiting in PPE was ready. Once they all nodded, I was called into the room and checked in at a desk where a man and woman verified my identity against four pieces of information.

Then I was directed by a man who ushered me into the connecting room which was completely bare except for a long table set up with two things- a huge canister of antibacterial wipes and a big bottle of sanitiser. Next to it there was a lady also in full PPE with COVID-19 test kits, and a chair perpendicular to her, facing away from the doorway I just came through. The usher waited by the side while she, for the third time in as many minutes, asked me to confirm my identity against three separate pieces of information.

I was directed to sit in the chair, and the man who had ushered me in asked me to confirm my identity for the fourth time, and then asked me 5 questions from what I could recall: Do I have a fever or cough? Have I had a face surgery? Have I had a brain surgery? Have I had a head surgery? Have I had a head injury in the past 10 years?

As per the diagram on the wall I was facing, he asked me to pull down my mask so my nose was uncovered, but my mouth remained unexposed. He explained the procedure- a swab for 5 seconds in each nostril and stated that if at any point I needed to stop, to raise my hand and he would immediately do so.

He started by swabbing my right nostril, took a few seconds to reach the right spot, and gently held a gloved hand against the back of my head to prevent any movement. He was the epitome of encouragement and calm. He then counted back from 5, congratulated me on one swab down before repeating the process for the left side. My eyes watered. For some reason, it feels worse when they're retracting the swab than when they're inserting it.

Once both nostrils were swabbed, he checked that I was all right and cheerily directed me out through the far end of the room where a man took my temperature with a handheld no-contact scanner, and then recited it to a lady sitting by a stand with room key cards. She took note of the temperature, asked for my room number, then got me to sign against a sheet she had before handing the key card to me. I had to re-enter the conference room and exit back to the elevators the way I had entered and headed back to my room.

Avocado cheese sandwich, topped with blueberry jam and a side of gravy marinated egg!

Day 12 ("Day 11")
I'm down to 3 milk cartons- I had so many turn up at my room door last week that I was able to conduct a milk review and decided that Magnolia fresh milk and Meiji fresh milk were my favourites.

It's surreal I only have 3 days left.

Mum brought some salads and roast chicken noodles today which was a nice change from consistently heavily fried meals.

It was another long work day. I couldn't focus on much after closing my work laptop. I practised juggling with the tennis balls I brought with me, and was still fidgety so ended up measuring the room dimensions to be approximately 3m x 7m.

Day 13 ("Day 12")
Finally had my last 2 AM meeting and work was much slower today which was a nice change of pace.

At 10 AM, I received a phone call from an ICA contractor on my hotel room phone who verified my identity and then told me the good news about my negative COVID-19 test result. She followed that up by stating I was free to leave my room any time after 12 PM on Friday October 30th. I realised after that I had a missed call on my mobile phone, which was likely why she called via the front desk to reach me.

About 30 minutes later, the room phone rang again- this time it was the front desk for my temperature reading, and confirming that details of my check out would be provided tomorrow and left at my door. If I needed a trolley, the front desk would provide one given I called ahead of time. He also confirmed that today was the last day of laundry service as any laundry processed tomorrow would only be returned in the evening after I checked out.

There wasn't much to start packing up as I had barely unpacked my luggage when I arrived here, and so I finished tidying up what I wouldn't be using in the next day and half in roughly 15 minutes.

Day 14 ("Day 13")
I realised I've gone through at least 45 tea sachets during my 15 days here.

One of the tea refills I requested. I have an entire ziplock of sugar packets because I didn’t use any for tea.

Around 10:30 AM, two ICA inspectors, a man and woman, came by my room to verify my identity and confirm I hadn’t fled the premises. I have to say- anyone who decides to leave the day before your SHN ends is a bit of an idiot. Unless you had a medical emergency, that’s a $10,000 fine and/or a 6 month jail term you’re facing.

After dinner, I heard a knock on my door and found a sheet of paper listing my designated check out time and the details of my stay to sign off on.

Day 15 ("Day 14")
The final 5 AM work day. Woke up to a flood of 50 emails that needed to be addressed before I could switch off for the next two weeks. Sped worked through to 8 AM and called it a day.

Breakfast was delivered just past 7 which I wasn’t expecting as the maths of the check out sheet I received yesterday evening meant the meals should have ended last night. Then lunch appeared at my door just before the 12 PM restriction on leaving my room expired.

Final SHN meals

After stuffing the last remaining items I had laying around into my luggage, the room looked bare and a bit sad. 15 minutes past noon, I heard a knock on my door and opened it to find a trolley I requested outside- I actually left my room with more than I had checked in with. One final temperature check and a yellow sticker later, the concierge helped me book a cab to pick me up and I was whisked off home.

Home for the past 15 days, Capri by Fraser China Square

Overall thoughts: the entire experience was really well executed. From the moment we landed in Changi, to the chartered bus, meal deliveries and laundry provisions, COVID-19 test and inspections, refills of toiletries and tea/coffee, and the staggered check out times. The government, hotel, and contractors have done a fantastic job of ensuring everyone’s safety and comfort during the mandatory quarantine. Just yesterday the Ministry of Health (MOH) confirmed 67 total active cases in the country, no new cases of local transmissions of COVID-19, and 7 imported asymptomatic cases detected during their SHN.