Singapore — Another parent had to grapple recently with the difficulties of having to place their child under quarantine.
In this time of the pandemic, parents whose children have been exposed to someone with Covid-19 have sometimes been at a loss as to how to isolate their child, especially in cases where the child is still very young and cannot isolate by themselves.
In this particular instance, a worried father wondered what to do after his nine-year-old son was given a quarantine order and needed to be isolated, which presented a problem because the family of four all slept in one bedroom.
Families are required to follow these orders for the sake of public health and safety or face penalties for non-compliance.
The father, a Mr Liang, told the Shin Min Daily News of his family’s dilemma last week when they learned that their son needed to be in isolation at home for 12 days.
There had been three cases of Covid-19 at the boy’s school, Pei Chun Public School.
The son of Mr Liang, a 51-year-old accountant, is a Primary 3 student at Pei Chun Public School.
Mr Liang and his wife, as well as all the other parents of students at the school, were informed about the Covid cases at Pei Chun Public School on Jul 24.
At that time, only two children had come down with the infection. These students were from Primary 3 and 6, and had last attended classes on Jul 16.
The Covid-positive student in Primary 3 was in the same class as Mr Liang’s son, and Shin Min Daily News reported that the whole class was tested on Jul 25 and told not to return to the school the following day, Monday.
On Jul 26, another Primary 3 pupil from that class tested positive for the infection.
On the following day, the Ministry of Health (MOH) messaged Mr Liang’s wife to tell her that their son needed to be quarantined at home for twelve days, which meant he needed to be isolated in one room and could not have any contact with any other members of the household as this could cause the infection to spread.
But for the Liangs, this was an impossibility.
The family had knocked down the bedroom walls of three smaller rooms to create one big room where Mr and Mrs Liang, their son, and their 17-year-old daughter all slept.
Therefore, their young son could not be isolated at home.
Mr Liang then reached out to MOH, asking if he could isolate himself with his son in a facility or hotel, as there is no place for the boy to be quarantined at home.
The MOH staff he spoke to said they would get back to them in two days. Nothing else was told to Mr Liang, and he and his family were at a loss as to what they were and were not allowed to do.
And the two days while the family waited proved to be quite difficult for the family, with his daughter staying home from school and his wife unable to visit and cook for her 90-year-old mother.
Mr Liang told Shin Min Daily News, “For this reason, I contacted the Ministry of Health and expressed that I was willing to accompany my son and leave the house to the isolation facility or hotel to allow him to fulfill the isolation order. However, the hotline personnel all responded with ‘this two-day arrangement’ and there was no further information. I am very worried.”
MOH finally called Mr Liang back after 10 pm on Thursday, Jul 29.
He was allowed to accompany his son as the boy isolated in a hotel.
Mrs Liang and their daughter stayed home and are not being asked to isolate, nor are any of them required to be tested further. /TISG
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