Man Relates His Experience Staying in S’pore Expo; Able to Move Around in Hall & Can Choose Your Own Food

If you’re reading this from the comfort of your own home right now, you are one lucky person.

Also, you’re adhering to the circuit breaker measures, so kudos to you.

Not everyone is as lucky as you are though. Many are being isolated at government facilities due to the coronavirus.

One man is sharing his experience staying at Singapore Expo:

Man Relates His Experience Staying in S’pore Expo; Able to Move Around in Hall & Can Choose Your Own Food

Matthew, a 24-year-old student who asked that his full name not be used, spoke to Channel News Asia regarding his experience being a COVID-19 patient.

He has been transferred around a few locations, from a ward at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) to the D’Resort NTUC Community Facility.

Now he is being housed at a new community isolation facility.

You guessed it.

The facility is none other than Singapore Expo.

The facility at Expo has been functional since Friday, 10 April, according to the Ministry of Health (MOH) and Matthew is among the first to stay there.

“I didn’t know what to expect but I wasn’t exactly looking forward to it,” said Matthew who was transferred from NCID to Expo.

“But I’m quite an okay person (dealing with these things) – so as long as it was liveable, I was fine with it.”

Upon seeing the size of the hall and the number of rooms, it struck him that a lot of people were being affected by the virus.

“I was very shocked to see that there was such a facility that was built and could hold so many people,” he explained. “It’s one thing to see the pictures, but when I saw it in real life, I was still very shocked.”

Returned From Studies In UK On 20 March

Matthew had returned from his studies in the UK on 20 March. He had developed symptoms on 24 March before he was warded at NCID the next day.

He was later transferred to D’Resort but was readmitted to NCID for tests after he showed symptoms like cough and chest discomfort.

He described the difference between his stay at D’Resort where his room had a balcony and Expo, where there were only curtains that functioned as ‘doors’.

“With the balcony at D’Resort, I could get some sunlight and fresh air, I think that was the biggest difference,” he said. “There’s also no doors (for the rooms), just curtains (in their place). So, it’s a totally different feeling … You just have to make do with it.”

Staying At The Expo

I would imagine that this would be what it would be like if there was a war or some kind of zombie invasion.

We would all sleep in a hall and have lights that would switch on and off at a fixed timing. We would all then queue up for food in the cafeteria.

My imagination seems to be pretty accurate:

The daily routine at the Expo is pretty simple: lights go off by 11.30pm and switch on before 7.30am.

Better than NS, actually, with lights off at 10:30pm and lights on at 5:30am.

“I was honestly expecting that the sleeping area would be a bit more comfortable,” Matthew said.

“But I’m used to it (now). Sleeping is not an issue for me – but I’ve been told that I’m a heavy sleeper and I can sleep quite easily.”

Meals, on the other hand, are distributed at collection point three times a day.

A 5-minute long queue forms before the patients reach the front.

“The queues move very fast, everything is already packaged and it’s the same so we can just grab and go,” he explained.

Patients can even choose between different types of food. Matthew also said that the standard was comparable to that at D’resort.

Patients can choose between Halal, Western, Chinese and Vegetarian food.

Now, if you’ve dabao food recently, you’d realise it’s just like what restaurants are doing: they’d place the food on the table for you to collect.

Really, Really Clean

Matthew also said that the toilets are shared among users but they’re “really, really clean”.

“It’s really, really clean, I think they clean it at least twice a day,” Matthew said.

Gotta admit that looks like a five-star hotel toilet if not for that fan up there.

Cubicles on the second floor of the hall have also been turned into places you can take a shower.

Patients are also allowed to move around the hall freely but most opt to stay in their own rooms.

In addition, there is also a medication facility where patients can seek help.

Fast Wifi

But what else do you do when you’re isolated from your friends and family at a facility?

Netflix, of course. Thankfully, Matthew said that the Wifi at the Expo was quick, which wasn’t the case at D’Resort.

He also spends most of his time talking with friends, browsing the internet and watching shows on Netflix.

Like us.

At the end of the day, he is hoping to be able to leave soon.

“That is all that I’m hoping for right now,” he said. “I’m really really determined to get out. But that’s dependent on my body, and not up to me.”

Erm, didn’t he know that life’s not going to be much different? #justsaying

Expo Will Progressive Expand To Accommodate More

The Expo community care facility will have one hall that can accommodate 480 patients, according to Health Minister Mr Gan Kim Yong.

However, it will “progressively expand” as the demand increases and the number of cases increase.

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The first such facility was D’Resort in Pasir Ris which could accommodate around 500 people.

The facility at the Singapore Expo will house two types of patients: recovering patients and “early patients”.

Recovering patients are those who have been to hospital but have “more or less recovered” from the coronavirus.  However, they still have the virus in them.

While early patients are confirmed COVID-19 cases who are deemed to be “quite well”.

Some patients need not even go to the hospital but will be sent directly to community care facilities as they don’t need extensive medical treatment during their isolation period. You know, like those who don’t even have a trace of symptom, which is worrying as a recent study shows that up to 70% of infected patients have no symptoms at all.

We wish Matthew a speedy recovery and hope that he will be able to leave and go home asap.

In the meantime, please adhere to the circuit breaker measures so we can break the chain of transmission once and for all.

Because there’s always a limit to how many shows there are on Netflix.

Reader Bao: You can always watch Mediacorp shows

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