Hello everyone! This week’s blog post will be different from my past blog posts as I would be sharing about my experience in quarantine. Two weeks ago, I tested positive for COVID-19 over the Lunar New Year holidays. As I was unable to isolate myself safely in my house, I served my quarantine at a quarantine facility. This is a day in my life in quarantine.
Upon arrival at the quarantine facility, I was greeted by staff members wearing personal protective equipment (PPE). From head to toe, they were armed in plastic face shields, surgical masks, gowns, and gloves. To minimise any physical contact, all items that were handed to me, including daily necessities such as toilet rolls and soap, were placed in plastic bags or packaging.
As patients are not allowed to leave the quarantine facility until we test negative for COVID-19 or after the seventh day of our isolation order, our meals must be sent to our rooms. The food was pre-packed in plastic containers, accompanied by packets of single-use plastic utensils. Once I was done with my meals, I would bag up the plastic containers and utensils and leave them outside my room. The staff would then collect and dispose of it.
Thankfully, I recovered quickly and exited quarantine after three days. As I was leaving the quarantine facility, I couldn’t help but reflect on the countless single-use plastics that the place has used and its contribution to the global plastic pollution problem since the pandemic started. Even for my short stay at the facility, I have used so much single-use plastics. However, at the same time, a lot of the single-use plastics used were necessary and unavoidable. For example, the PPE used by the staff members were important to protect them from contracting the virus. In addition, it might not have been economically or operationally viable for the facility to provide meals in reusable containers due to the size of its operations and the number of patients it was serving.
It is easy to criticise the facility’s extensive use of single-use plastics and its role in the global plastic pollution problem. However, during this pandemic, single-use plastics have played a vital role in protecting frontline workers and ensuring that COVID-19 recovery operations continue to run smoothly to prevent any bottlenecks. This is perhaps why the plastic pollution problem is so intricate, especially during this pandemic. In the next few blog posts, I would be exploring more about the role of the COVID-19 pandemic in the global plastic pollution problem.
That’s all folks, till next time!