Singapore ― With home recovery now the default for fully vaccinated individuals with mild Covid-19 symptoms, families have expressed frustrations towards their elderly parents who refuse to stay home.
To ease the strain on hospitals and community care facilities (CCFs), the Ministry of Health (MOH) expanded home recovery to fully vaccinated individuals aged 12 to 69 years old.
Beginning Sept 18, eligible individuals with mild or no symptoms, no severe comorbidities or illness, and no household members older than 80 years old or in one of the vulnerable groups, are required to recover at home.
Eligible individuals include those able to self-isolate in a room, preferably with an attached bathroom.
However, families have shared that keeping their elderly parents in their rooms was extra challenging.
An individual mentioned that her 68-year-old, who tested positive for Covid-19 infection on Sept 19 and told to quarantine in his room for home recovery, repeatedly left the room and apartment for walks along the shared corridor and in their neighbourhood.
“I found out that he actually went out for breakfast early in the morning on Monday,” said the adult child in a Mothership report.
Another individual shared that his father would walk around the house and went on with his daily activities.
“He kept saying he has to do laundry, he needs to get water, eat his vitamins, get food,” said the family member.
“He kept trying to rationalise that him staying in his room is not a foolproof method of preventing contact with the rest of the family members.”
Others highlighted that it was better to serve quarantine in a CCF due to the extended effect on household members.
“I feel like it’s more troublesome to be recovering from home because you depend on your people to feed you. They have schedules to adhere to as well. They’re dealing with work. Once I’m positive, they’re under home quarantine also. They need to organise groceries. It’s a lot of undue stress on them,” said a freelance photographer to Channel News Asia.
“I mean, it’s nice to know that I’m close to the people I love, but I also don’t want to risk infecting them,” he added.
According to a Straits Times report on Thursday (Sept 23), home recovery now accounts for up to 40 per cent of daily Covid-19 cases.
One Max Maxis Maxis took to Facebook page Complaint Singapore on Thursday afternoon to provide a glimpse of the situation at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH).
“The carpark in TTSH is converted to a hospital ward. The situation doesn’t look good. Try to stay at home as much as possible,” wrote the concerned individual.
He attached a video of the carpark, with hospital beds lined up in the area. /TISG
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