Singapore — A woman whose 6-month-old daughter was in close contact with an infant care classmate diagnosed with Covid-19 took to social media to say she is “at wits’ end” with the lack of clarity with proceeding with quarantine orders.
While she has reached out via official channels, she has not received answers.
Moreover, the frazzled-sounding mum of four young children appealed to the authorities to “improve this abysmal process,” saying that not getting clear direction is “is frustrating beyond words.”
Ms Ayu Fionn posted on the COMPLAINT SINGAPORE Facebook page “to share on the slow/lacking process for those issued with Quarantine Orders.”
She wrote that on Jul 25 they were told by the school her baby attends that one of the baby’s classmates has Covid, and that both her baby and the classmate had been at the school two days before.
Moreover, Mdm Ayu has two other children who attend the school.
On Jul 26, all of her children were issued a Leave of Absence (LOA) by the school and the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA).
The following day, she was called by a staff from the Ministry of Health (MOH) to say that the baby had been issued a Quarantine Order. Since she is still an infant, the baby will need to be accompanied by a guardian while in quarantine.
Mdm Ayu said she asked for her whole family to serve the quarantine together at home, presumably since she still has young children, and they were all given a LOA anyway, and requested for the family to be issued a Quarantine Order.
But the MOH staff said he could not decide on the matter, and that the appointed contractor, Certis (Cisco), would reach out within 24 to 48 hours to either assess their home for quarantine eligibility or to bring them to the quarantine facility.
“To date, no sound or picture from them,” she wrote in her Jul 29 Facebook post.
“I understand the current situation is very volatile with the climbing numbers but shouldn’t MOH ensure the appointed contractor have enough manpower to handle the situation?,” Mdm Ayu added.
The uncertainty of the situation is taking a toll on her mental health, especially as a working mother with small children.
“I didn’t even receive any official documentation to show that my daughter is on QO.
I am a working individual and have been proactive to inform my employers that my daughter is on QO hence so am I. But having no official documentation to show for it is raising eyebrows. Not even an SMS from MOH.”
She added that her family is now self-isolating, endeavouring to be socially responsible, and none of them has even left their apartment to get groceries.
“Try doing that with 4 active young kids in a 3 Bedroom flat,” she added, along with the concern that “Since we have not been served any official documents, will we be charged if we were to leave our home right now?”
Since she has not got answers from MOH and the Centris hotline, whom she both tagged in her post, she took to social media to appeal for an improvement in the process.
“Maybe launch an app patch on trace together or health hub app that enables everyone to check on their quarantine order status? Having to call Ministry of Health, Singapore & Cisco Customer Experience Center – Singapore hotlines only to not have anyone answer is frustrating beyond words. We just require someone or a proper channel to give us the relevant information instead of waiting around like headless chicken with no direction.
Truly at wits end.” /TISG
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