When Covid-19 hits home

I had expected Chinese New Year this year to be uneventful, given the Omicron wave of Covid-19 infections in the community and the restriction to only five unique visitors per household a day.

However, the possibility of missing reunion dinner with my family was never on my mind.

The sudden turn of events happened after I suffered an intense headache that lasted overnight. I took an antigen rapid test (ART) the next morning, and my worst fear was confirmed.

I was Covid-19-positive.

This was Jan 28, four days before Chinese New Year.

I tried hard to recall where I could have caught the virus. Could it be the fast-food restaurant where I had lunch the day before, and the person at the next table was coughing badly?

My wife and two sons were shocked when I relayed the bad news. But there was no time to despair as I quickly isolated myself in a room and sorted out what I had to do to protect the family.

After frantically checking the Ministry of Health website for the latest protocols, and exchanging WhatsApp messages with my wife who was separated from me by a wall in the living room, we managed to come up with an action plan for the next few days, including postponing the renovation and painting works we had scheduled.

I told my parents who lived nearby to do their ARTs and avoid coming over to my place for the time being.

For the next few days, my wife cooked or bought meals which were placed on a stool outside my room, and I left the room only for toilet breaks. To overcome boredom, I watched Netflix shows and chatted with my family through WhatsApp calls.

By the eve of Chinese New Year, all my hopes of recovering in time for the festive occasion were dashed, as I continued to nurse a cough.

My ART after the initial 72 hours remained positive. For the first time in my life, reunion dinner was a quiet and simple affair as I ate alone in the room.

Chinese New Year came and passed with no fanfare. I missed our traditional giving of hongbao to my sons. My wife gave on my behalf, and cheekily wrote on the red packets "Papa caught Covid-19", as remembrance of this out-of-the-blue Chinese New Year experience.

Fortunately, my family members tested negative daily.

On my seventh day of isolation, I was still positive. Although the current protocol states that I could be discharged from isolation that day, I decided to continue with it as a safety precaution.

That evening, my 13-year-old son returned home from school and complained of a headache. My suspicion was confirmed when he tested positive the next morning.

I was still trying to sort out the isolation arrangements when my nine-year-old son also tested positive a few hours later, followed by my wife the following day.

That started round two of the Covid-19 battle for my family.

This was how fast and highly transmissible the virus is within a household, despite us having stepped up disinfecting measures to keep the enemy at bay.

Thankfully, except for my younger son who experienced a high fever of about 39.5 deg C on the first day of infection, my older son and wife did not have any symptoms.

For the next few days, my wife and sons continued to test positive but they generally felt fine.

To prevent reinfection for me, we wore masks as we carried on with our activities at home - my wife continued to work from home and my sons enjoyed their "extended Chinese New Year holiday" while doing some homework which was assigned online.

While my family was fortunate to suffer only mild or no symptoms, it was nonetheless a trying period. But family and friends sent food and care packs, and we ordered our favourite food via delivery platforms to cheer ourselves up.

When my younger son finally tested negative on Feb 13, we headed out as a family for the first time in 16 days to spend some time together outdoors.

My sons managed to visit their grandparents and got their hongbao almost two weeks after Chinese New Year.

We have been living with the pandemic for two years, but when it truly hit home (literally), it was only then that I realised how testing the situation could be - including not having sufficient space at home for isolation (at one point, my wife had to sleep on the sofa), replenishing ART kits before they ran out, not having enough digital devices for home learning during isolation as some devices were family-shared, and plans being disrupted (renovation and painting works were pushed back).

This 16-day Covid-19 episode taught my family to embrace the unexpected challenges as a family and the importance of being understanding of one another's needs.

With the rising number of Omicron cases, there could be more families experiencing the same situation. My advice to them is to support one another as a family and not be shy to ask for help.

A friend joked that given that my family now have immunity against Covid-19, we could start making plans for travelling.

I did not think that far, but I am just glad that my family came out of this pandemic journey unscathed and, hopefully, this will be our last intimate brush with the virus.

• Ron Low, 42, is a Singaporean freelance photographer who enjoys using photos to tell stories in everyday life. A photo series he produced on changes brought about by Covid-19 took second prize at the National University of Singapore's Montage 2021 event. He has worked on series documenting hawkers for the National Heritage Board and Indian Heritage Centre. His photos can be viewed on Instagram - @ronlowphoto.