You might be curious about how it was to travel during the coronavirus outbreak. Last week, I came back from the Philippines and Singapore (I will of course write all about it!). I must admit that I was very lucky to be back on time before all the chaos started. I was back on Tuesday evening last week, and on Thursday it was already announced that my whole country, Norway, would soon be under lockdown and that everyone who is abroad should come back immediately. It was also decided that everyone who had been outside of the nordic countries, had to be under quarantine for 2 weeks (so here I am!). Basically, we made it just in time before all the chaos started. My dad, on the other hand, just came back from the Dominican Republic yesterday and most of his vacation was ruined because of fear of not coming back to Norway. One of his return tickets was cancelled, but luckily he was able to rebook it for free.
There were some things that really caught my attention. First, when I told people I was going to the Philippines and Singapore, they were really surprised that I would go there during the coronavirus outbreak. They did, however, not think about that there were many more cases in Norway than in Singapore and the Philippines together! The whole time we were in the Philippines, there were only 3 coronavirus cases. Not sure if they maybe confused the Hubei province in China with the whole Asia? Of course, I am aware of that you can never know where and when you meet someone who is infected. Either way, the people I talked to were really afraid that I would bring the coronavirus to Norway, and insisted on me staying at home. On the second day after we arrived, I went to the grocery store to buy all the necessities, because I knew the country would probably soon be on lockdown, and also because people were going crazy with buying stuff for several months! Meanwhile, it had been announced that people who had been abroad had to stay at home. The difference between isolation and quarantine was of course also specified, even the fact that when you are under quarantine you CAN still go to the grocery store as long as you don’t go there during “rush hours” and keep a 1 metre distance from others. Still, I received several angry messages from people telling me that I am not following the rules and that I have to be at home because I am posing a risk to others. Fine, I haven’t stepped outside ever since.
I think it is also important that I mention the measures taken in Singapore and the Philippines vs in Norway and Europe in general. Ever since we landed in Asia, we were constantly being asked to fill out forms regarding the coronavirus, we were checked for fever everywhere (airports, shopping malls, every time we entered our hotel!), everything was being disinfected and washed all the time, there was plastic on elevator buttons that was frequently changed, there were hand sanitisers available for use on every corner etc. There were no Chinese or Koreans allowed inside the country because of the outbreak, plus many people of other nationalities did not travel because of fear, so there were only around 20 percent of the normal amount of tourists on Palawan and Boracay, and the planes were empty. Because of the little amount of people, and because of all the measures taken, we felt very safe. When we arrived in Norway, however, there was nothing. No questions, no fever being checked, and the same applies to London where we had our stopover on the way back. I personally found this very strange. I know that Norway don’t see the point in checking people’s fever because one can transmit the disease even before having symptoms, but it could at least stop some of the cases. Instead, there were hundreds of people in the supermarkets panicking that there would not be any food of toilet paper left for them. Understandable, but isn’t that the easiest way to get infected? So many people in one place, touching everything and checking for the expiry date. To me, that was the stupidest thing ever, how come they even let that many people inside of the grocery store at the same time??? Now that it’s been 9 days since I came back from Singapore, and still don’t have any symptoms, I am much more afraid that I might have caught the coronavirus while grocery shopping in Norway… I know one thing, once this quarantine time is over, I will keep on staying inside until this whole situation has calmed down, because here in Norway, a lot must still be done to decrease the number of cases. I can imagine that this week, there will be a drastic increase of the coronavirus cases after all the “irresponsible” grocery shopping. Just my thought.
Stay home and be safe everyone!
Anyah Mroz 