Managed isolation is not as bad as you think

Friday, 17 September 2021

PM Jacinda Ardern announces the new Covid roadmap to re-open New Zealand with the world.

OPINION: Kia ora from the Sudima hotel in Rotorua. I am writing to you on the penultimate day of my isolation period. By the time you read this my 14 days of isolation following a trip to London will have ended.

You might know that passengers travelling to New Zealand with a pre-booked voucher for an isolation hotel, don't find out where they will be sent until after they arrive in the country. I live in Christchurch but, given the scarcity of isolation spots, didn't mind being sent elsewhere.

After landing in Auckland, it took about six hours to be health checked, paper processed and bus-transferred to our hotel in Rotorua. Despite the long hours, everything seemed necessary and efficient.

My room at the hotel is spacious and has large windows that open on top. The meals – which arrive with a knock on the door and are left outside my room – have been okay. The outdoor exercise area, according to our lovely airport-to-hotel bus driver, is the largest of its kind in the country, and we are allowed to use it as often and as long as we want unless it is temporarily closed during arrivals, departures or Covid PCR testing periods.

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“How glorious it has been to receive food without a single thought about where it has come from and how it has been prepared (those in charge of preparing family meals know exactly what I mean).”

Talking about PCR testing, I have had three tests during my stay, on day one, day three and day 12. I found the testing in New Zealand to be different to England. Here, they push up the swab quite high up your nose and don't swab your throat. In England, as well as the nose, they rub the swab across your tonsil (same area if you have had your tonsils removed) five times. If the swab touches your teeth, tongue or gums, the test might be void. Sounds easy but twice at a walk-in self-testing site in London, I had to ask for an extra swab because of accidental touching of my tongue.

Covid testing in the UK is free and extremely efficient. PCR (lab-based) home-testing kits are available on request and dispatched within 24-hours. There are also dedicated priority postboxes (35,000 of them in the UK) for sample collection.

Donna Miles: “But what about the feeling of being isolated? Well, everyone is different of course. For me, the experience has been sublime.”

I had to pre-book a day two test as part of the condition of my quarantine-free travel to England. The UK government has divided the world into red, amber and green countries with various testing, isolation and quarantine requirements attached to each classification. New Zealand deservedly enjoys a green status, which means isolation-free travel and minimal requirement for costly testing (same-day results can cost around $360).

It would be interesting to hear a little more about what our Government is doing preparing for the post-vaccine management of Covid in New Zealand. Here, I am referring specially to the development of at-home testing kits and the logistics involved in their delivery and collection.

Going back to our managed isolation regime, having spoken to friends who have recently completed similar programmes in places like Australia and China, where outside exercise is not allowed, I really don't think we have it too bad in New Zealand.

But what about the feeling of being isolated? Well, everyone's situation is different of course. I imagine managed isolation to be particularly tough for those cooped up in a hotel room with energetic little children.

For me, the experience has been sublime. I think we totally underestimate the burden of having to make constant choices about what to do with our bodies and minds. How glorious it has been to receive food without a single thought about where it has come from and how it has been prepared (those in charge of preparing family meals know exactly what I mean).

And what a treat for the mind to be given a little rest from daily civilities. I have been so grateful for this period of calm that came after spending three jam-packed weeks in London.

The isolation has given my body time to rest and my mind a chance to savour the precious moments I spent with old friends. Ms Charlotte Bronte, Mr F Scott Fitzgerald and recently Ms Mary Ann Evans (pen name George Eliot) have been great companions, winning my admiration for their astonishing power of expression and keen observations of human character. Thanks to them, I have felt no need to turn on the TV, not even once. My family have been messaging and calling daily, and I have talked to many friends and relations on the phone.

In summary, I have felt safe, taken care of, and never disconnected from love. So thank you to all the wonderful MIQ staff based at the Sudima hotel in Rotorua including many members of the New Zealand Defence Force.

Thanks specially to the frontline testing staff, many of whom I noticed were from the Pasifika community. You all deserve our admiration and gratitude for keeping our country safe.