This is a report about a friend of mine and his experience in the Mexican flu 2009 scare. He was a passenger on Dragon Air flight KA912 from Manila to Hong Kong on June 6th 2009. Before landing in Hong Kong all passengers were required to fill out a Health Declaration form for the Hong Kong Department of Health. The purpose of this form was to collect not only health data but contact information that included local addresses, passport numbers and phone numbers. On this flight from Manila was a person coughing. Upon touchdown in Hong Kong all passengers were thermally screened at the airport for signs of infection. Later it was confirmed that the coughing passenger had the Mexican flu or H1N1 swine flu.
My friend left Hong Kong the next day and did not return until June 9th at about 6:30pm. Upon his arrival at his home at 7:30pm he was notified by his apartment manager and by a note left in his mailbox that the police were looking for him. After about 2 hrs he received a phone call from the department of health. At first they got his passport number wrong, so he thought they might have confused him with another passenger. After talking to a health official a doctor from the holiday village got on the phone he explained what was happening. This is when he was notified that there was a passenger on his June 6th flight that was confirmed to have the Mexican flu. Of course coming from a long haul, he was tired and jetlagged and hungry. He was told that they are sending a van to pick him up and it would take about an hour.
Almost 2 hours had passed and the van had still not arrived. 11pm he received another phone call from the holiday village and was told that the driver is not allowed to park by the driveway and that he was to meet him at the curve side. So he went down and met up with the driver. As he got into the van, he was offered a mask and the driver also put on his mask.
The driver was also assigned to pick up an elderly Chinese person. As he got into the van my friend saw he already had a mask on. The drive was about 45 minutes to the holiday village. There were 2 check points, one to check and make sure that they are the people they say they are. The 2nd check point was near the clinic. Going inside the building, was like going into a warehouse, like those sci-fi movies where they found aliens….not a lot of people, no fog but still eerie feeling. He doesn’t know what the building was for but as they were escorted inside he saw about 2 people who were being processed and about 5 to 7 employees. The clinic personnel were protected with gowns, masks and gloves.
He was asked to fill out an info sheet and the older gentleman was called first. Then about 10 to 15 minutes later, he was called. By this time the 2 people ahead of him were done. The nurse called him up and she gave him a stack of masks and a bottle of rubbing alcohol and she took his temperature and confirmed the information on the sheet. He was asked to fill out more forms and was asked to wait. In about 10 minutes his name was called and he was being seen by a doctor. When he did not have a temperature he was given a choice of either 10 days in the Holiday Village under strict quarantine rules or 10 days of taking tamiflu under the supervision of Hong Kong health officials and agreeing not to leave Hong Kong for the next 5 days. He agreed to take the medication and was told about it and asked to read the info about the medication tamiflu. He was then asked more questions and told about certain facts regarding pregnancy, or wanting to get pregnant and some other health questions. Then the contract was showed to him. In the contract, he had to agree to go to one of the 4 clinics closest to his flat and if he missed a day, there would be a fine of hkd 5,000 and or, up to 6 months in jail. After he signed the contract, the doctor gave him a capsule of the tamiflu. By this time the older gentleman was done and the driver took them home.
At 3 pm on June 10th he was called by the police to ensure he had reported to the clinic. When he informed them that he had already reported they wanted proof to confirm this and they sent a car.
Each day for the next 4 days he had to report to this clinic where his temperature was taken and was given a dose of tamiflu under the watchful eye of a health official. Each time he reported there was a steady stream of people in the same situation as he was. On the 14th of June he was given 5 doses of tamiflu and instructed to take them, one a day for the next five days.
This has become the common routine when flying into Hong Kong during the current pandemic conditions. For those out there thinking about not cooperating, there is a $5000 HK dollar fine and 6 months in prison for non compliance with this procedure or the giving false information on the health declaration form.
Since then it has almost been a month. Last night his niece Carla just passed away at the age of 6 with complications of pneumonia. This is the leading cause of death from the Mexican Flu 2009.
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