LIFE in Managed Isolation!
There is a lot of uproar about New Zealand’s way of managing returning New Zealanders. New Zealand has been Covid-free since June and if you want to visit or move back to Godzone, you A) have to have a damn good reason, and B) must go into a 14 day quarantine period in a managed location. If you have no symptoms and don’t develop any, you are placed into a hotel with some freedom of movement. If you do develop symptoms or you test positive you are moved to a restricted quarantine hotel where you are not allowed much. We are in the Grand Millennium Hotel; a comfortable 4 star hotel. The thing that causes the uproar among fellow Kiwi citizens and residents, is that the bill of managed isolation (NZ$4000 per person) is paid by the New Zealand government. A lot of people are of the opinion that this should be paid by the people that decide to come back now. They could have come back a few months ago when Covid was still everywhere, and they could have self-isolated at their own house or wherever it is that they were headed, at the same time when the entire country was on compulsory lockdown. The NZ government’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern does not share that view, and says that all Kiwis should be able to come home and should not have to pay for this, as it is a rule put in place by the government. I would like to add to that, that not everyone was able to come back at the time of the outbreak. A lot of borders were already closed and a lot of people still had to pack up, finish their rental agreements or work contracts, or had not yet lost their jobs until later in time, when it was no longer possible to travel. Still, I am unable to explain the exuberant $4000 cost. Apparently they pay $170 per person, per night to each hotel, regardless of whether it is a 4 star or a no-star hotel. $170 x 14 still leaves $1620 which supposedly is to cover the ministry of health’s employees, the security, hired fences and the nurses that come check your temperature each day. $1620/14 = $115 PER PERSON wich just seems a bit much to cover these things! Add to that that I am sharing with Jono, that is $340 per night for the hotel, $230 for whatever the rest is.
All that aside, let me just shed some light on what it is really like to be in “managed isolation” in a four star hotel.
First of all, the fact that you are in a luxury hotel does not mean you get 4 star treatment. A four star hotel implies a good gym, a decent size pool, a spa and some great dining opportunities. Of course this hotel has all these facilities, but they are closed right now because we are NOT four star guests, we are people that are put here under hefty restrictions. We are not allowed outside our rooms unless we wear a face mask, and there are set timeslots where you are allowed to go for a 45 minute walk, walking around in circles - and only if you book it beforehand. During this walk you’re not allowed to jog or do anything that speeds up your heart rate because that would make you snotty or breathe heavily.
You get three meals a day, which to be honest is a lot when you spend all day sitting around. You’re just not hungry anymore! The portions are huge, and if you are lucky like us, you can make a selection out of two choices. In our hotel there’s always 1 veggie option and 1 meat one. Unfortunately for me they seem to think vegetarians only like to eat salad, but fortunately you are also allowed to order takeaways to be delivered to the hotel, as well as supermarket (food) deliveries, at your own cost, of course. Apart from the dinner salads the meat options seem to be pretty good and varied, and our breakfast and lunch choices generally are quite decent too, if only they would cook the eggs properly (usually the scrambled eggs are half cooked and really snotty and disgusting). Still, apart from the scrambled eggs the food is pretty good and includes snacks, desserts and plenty of fruit!
Breakfast! There is another hotel which shall remain nameless, where they are served culinary highlights such as a Mashed Potato Sandwich. MMMMMmm....
AND with cucumber! Days are very long and dull. We have been on a Facebook page called New Zealand Hotel Quarantine, which has been very helpful for getting information about flights getting cancelled and what visas and permits to get before travelling, and now it is great because you see the things other people get up to. For example, we have a small fridge but are not able to cook anything because we don’t have those facilities. So this innovative lady started making toasted cheese sandwiches with the help of an iron...
She also had some other great tips: for example, she said it is great to heat up soup in the kettle. Eh??
Brilliant! Poached eggs it is! To get some extra exercise I have been doing yoga and some ballet - barre exercises to help keep my lower back and hips flexible, you get incredibly sore from all this sitting and lying around! You can just mirror your cellphone or laptop to the TV which is great. Lucky we have fast Internet here, so we are able to do that.
We are quite fortunate that we are allowed to purchase alcohol each day, quite generous amounts to; either 1 bottle of wine per person per day, or five beers per person per day. There are other facilities where alcohol is strictly forbidden, or where it costs a fortune! Our hotel has reduced its prices which is quite nice of them. It helps get through some of the boring hours a bit happier... I have been applying for jobs and I started this blog again, after several years, so that’s something productive at least. I have some freelance work to do each day and I also found myself a new hobby: rock painting! I bought enough paint before we travelled to New Zealand and I received the tools to do it a day before we left, after waiting for them for over a month! It is quite soothing and addictive and fun to do, and the result is more useful than doing a jigsaw and putting that back in the box after you finish it. I pinch the stones from the garden by the deck where we do the walk each day, and I actually had intended to put them back once painted, but some turned out quite nice so I might actually keep them and put them in our future garden or bathroom...
You can see the stones I nick outside the window, on the ground below. They look much better with a lick of bright colour! Right now we are over the halfway mark, after today we have another six days to go, getting out on Friday night. We had a test on day three and tested negative, we have another one on day 12 and then get let out on day 14, at the same time we checked in. All in all it is not too bad, just rather boring. We watch a lot of TV and spend a lot of time online and reading books. It is just one of those things you have to do, the reward is having a normal life without social distancing in one of the most beautiful countries in the world! I wish everyone could be mature and grateful enough to see it like that, however, unfortunately there are some of these idiots that risk ruining it all for the rest of us: for their own selfish reasons.
A few of them even tested positive! They risked spreading another Covid break-out and another lockdown, just to go to the supermarket or to the bottlestore. I believe they got a hefty fine and a prison sentence and they bloody deserve it too. They are now talking about putting electronic ankle bracelets on isolation hotel guests, now that would really make us feel like prisoners. Not that it would happen to us, we just have to sit out our sentence for six more days and we’re out of room 747 of the Grand Millennium for good!