Love And Family In the Time of COVID-19

This is a translation from the original 當疫情降臨你最在乎的不是自己而是家人 by Wu Cheng (吳崢), a staff for Taipei City Councilor Sabrina Lin. Originally published by Voice Tank. Translation by Lingsan Sher.

It was May 24, around 10~11pm. I was sitting on the left side of a bus, with a colleague sitting on the right. As usual for buses around this time, there weren’t too many people on the bus. Everybody wore masks tightly, and nobody was saying a word. Unlike other buses, the window of this bus was open. The air in the night still retained some warmth, and flooded into the bus from the open window. I stared through the window, watching the objects on the street passing by. The fluorescent lamp in the bus seemed to become even brighter.

The window was open because this was a charter bus to transport suspected COVID-19 patients. People on this charter bus were either rapid tested COVID-19 positive or confirmed patients. My colleague and I were tested positive at the Wanhua (萬華) rapid test center earlier.

Earlier that day, a colleague reported in our social media group that she was confirmed positive by PCR. We were stunned. This was the first time that we were so close to a confirmed case. The slogan “we are so close after all” in our favorite milk tea commercial had taken on an altogether different meaning.

When my name was called at the rapid test center and brought into the quarantine room, which meant I tested positive, my surprise turned into shock.

I kept telling myself “no way,” like a broken radio.

“So does this mean that I am confirmed? I’m sick with COVID-19?”

***

I felt surprised and shocked at the rapid test center and the charter bus, but it was only after checking in at the quarantine hotel, the door closed and locked, and I pulled out a chair and finally sat down in the empty room, that the fact I was tested positive felt real to me.

The next thing I worried about was not uncertainty for the future or my personal safety. Rather, I started recalling the people I had been in contact with during this time period. What about them?

I believed that, like most people, I was doing my part to protect myself and others from the epidemic, willing to adjust my lifestyle to cooperate with the prevention measures. I did not go to crowded public places, turned down invitations for dinners, and wore masks when I was out. Rotating shifts at the office turned into work remotely at home. Maybe I didn’t affect too many other people?

But when I thought about it seriously, I realized that the number of people I came in contact with was much more than the number I had in mind. My closest roommate; a friend I had not seen for a while who came to my office for a short visit; the cashier I chat with at the corner 7-11; the workers at the cafe where I buy coffee and the supermarket where I buy food; the technician who came to my house for gas inspection; other offices I visited due to work…

If I was COVID-19 positive, how do I even face these people? How could I tell them that they might be in danger, and it was because of me?

In a pandemic, people worry about others more than themselves.

***

When I was in the quarantine hotel, I became friends with other residents, and received messages from others who were also going through the same ordeal. 

I have a friend whose father had rapid tested positive, and lived in the same quarantine hotel as me. Initially, she contacted me because she was worried about her father. She said that her father was old and not familiar with how to use a cell phone, so he might not be able to communicate his needs too well. 

She anxiously asked me all kinds of questions. Is the food ok? Are the rooms comfortable? Anything we need? Should she bring anything for her father? When will the PCR test result come out?

A few days later when the situation was more stable, she asked me about all sorts of things. Is there a TV in the room? What are the channels? Would her father be bored if the channels that he used to watch were missing? Would he feel down if there were no friends to chat with or his wife to argue with? 

Some people might think that these questions were not that important, but I feel they showed just how much people truly cared about their families.

***

There was a mother who rapid-tested positive, and also confirmed positive by PCR after a few days of waiting at home. She was very anxious when she consulted me. She was most worried about her two children and her parents. Since she could not watch her children during quarantine, she asked her parents for help. But she’s also had contact with both her children and her parents, which makes them potential patients. What should her family do? What if the virus had spread and they were all in a cluster?

Line after line of messages popped up which I could not reply in time. Her worry seemed to be about to penetrate the computer screen and flooded out to me.  

A man about my age also lived in my quarantine hotel, and he was very frustrated in the beginning. “Why did it have to be me?”

He came around to accepting his fate. He decided to make the best of his situation. As a result, he made an effort to enjoy every moment in the quarantine hotel. Every day, he exercised regularly to build up his immune system so he could come home faster. The only thing he worried about was his father, who was also tested positive and was sent to the hospital, and his biggest comfort was video chatting with his family.

He shared a screenshot with me. It was a picture of his mother and sisters squeezing in front of the cell phone, and the screen was filled with their faces.

During this period, “one island, one life” was our collective battle cry, calling for everybody to follow prevention measures and sacrifice for the common good. But I think, maybe, behind the lofty slogan, it’s really simple: 

Protect your family, and protect those around you.

(Feature photo by Elena Mozhvilo on Unsplash)