On arrival to quarantine: ‘I have been made to feel less human’

I entered Macau as a non-resident worker for the fifth time in late July. Twenty hours before I set off to the HZMB terminus, I had my first Covid test. With a twenty-four-hour report in hand, I was asked to arrive at least two and half hours before my scheduled bus ride for yet another Covid test. There, all travelers were made to wait outdoors in the scorching heat of 36 degrees Celsius for another two hours before we were allowed to enter an almost-empty bus station.

Upon arriving in Macau, we had to line up and follow a staff member fully geared up in a hazmat suit and carrying a bottle of anti-bacterial liquid that would be sprayed into the air every few steps of the way. After completing sign-in procedures and agreeing to the quarantine measures, we waited almost two hours at immigration for the green light to head to our hotels in a bus that reeked of the smell of Dettol.

By the time I entered isolation, I had a piercing headache and was nauseous from the long, uncomfortable journey. Altogether, it took me two Covid tests within twenty-four hours and seven and half hours only to end up in a ten-day quarantine that would require me to be tested daily with privately-purchased nasal swabs.

Two and a half years into the pandemic and with many fully vaccinated, these measures are not only appalling in a world that has been striving to move forward, but also physically – and mentally – draining to any normal human being. The government ban on those who have had Covid less than two weeks prior to entry creates immeasurable stress on travelers weeks before setting off. There is also barely any science behind the number of tests that travelers must endure before and during quarantine considering, we have no place to be and no people to see. 

As a traveler and a non-resident worker, I have always complied with the government’s pandemic prevention measures. In turn, I have been made to feel less human and more of a walking viral threat to the city with the hours of waiting and endless nasal swabs. While it is understandable that the government has been taking careful steps to ensure the health and safety of the Macau public, it is high time to reconsider whether the strict entry rules still make sense in the context of summer 2022.

Catherine Chan, Ph.D.