Quarantine in two places
When the world stopped due to COVID-19, I was in Borneo Island, Malaysia. A town called Kota Kinabalu. It is missed on a quick 2-week trip to Malaysia but Kota Kinabalu is a bustling destination for Malaysians for seafood, night market deals, island hopping and outdoor movie-watching.
We were on our way to a remote island in the north of Borneo when the government announced a national-wide lock-down effective immediately. Suddenly we had to find a place to stay and make new plans to either go home or stay the course (ultimately we went home in the only available plane out). We booked an Airbnb for one week and went to stay safely in one place. Then everything closed. Hotels stopped accepting new bookings, restaurants shut down, stores and food stalls closed. The government deployed the military to maintain enforce the lock-down. Everyone understood that something terrible was coming to Malaysia and waited to see what happened next.
In no time, cloth masks were made available at supermarkets and surgical masks followed shortly. After the first few weeks, small businesses started innovating, offering takeaway and partnering with Grab and Food Panda to deliver food. Food Panda and Grab offered contact-less delivery where with precise instructions, the drivers will deliver your food and you don’t have to be too close to them.
After a month, supermarkets got a hold of digital temperature scans and took your temperature before you came in to shop. Every shop had hand sanitizers or water to wash your hands before entering. Everyone seemed to play their role in containing the spread. Everyone wore masks when they were out buying food, kept their distance. And because the society seemed under control and its leaders prepared, no one looked at us foreigners as intruders or Covid-19 vectors. The army and police were deployed to keep order during the MCO but there was no need because +80% of people kept to the curfew and limited movement. When we saw the army and police patrol cars on the streets, they waved at us – they had no reason to be aggressive or suspicious that we were breaking the rules. We felt welcomed and safe despite the inconveniences.
When we finally left Malaysia after a month plus in quarantine, they scanned our temperature before we checked-in for the flight and encouraged everyone to wear a mask.
Then we got to Spain.
Spain is one of the most affected countries with more than 30k+ people dead due to the Covid-19. From Malaysia we heard that the police were very strict about people staying indoors, people were getting fined for being out during the quarantine or leaving their neighborhoods. Only one person per household was allowed outdoors to buy essentials. We were scared to be back and be forced into this nightmare people were living through but we had to leave Malaysia. But upon arrival to Spain, there were no temperature scans anywhere in the airport.
None of the immigration officers, civil guards (Guardia civil) or airport staff wore masks. In fact, there was only one security guy who was eager to keep people 2 meters apart…everyone except his coworkers that is. Apparently only residents were allowed in but no one asked me if I was a resident of Spain (I am). Where negligence stopped, absurdity took over. In Spain for example, you can’t walk with your partner outside without keeping 2 meters apart. You know, the same partner you came out of the house with and share space with when you are not outside. If you happen to be in the car with that same partner, you can’t sit in the front passenger seat. It has to be one person in the front and one person in the back, seating diagonally. If you go to buy groceries, there are no temperature scans before you enter (I should mention that they give you gloves for shopping). People became so desperate to get out and perhaps ignorant of the gravity of the situation, they started walking “goats” and “fish” just to get out of their houses. Early May, the government employed a gradual re-opening scheme with phases. In phase 1, bars are allowed to open but schools are not…because its Spain. On May 11th the government (finally) started mandating new arrivals to quarantine for 14 days before entrance into the country, a good week after we entered with more than 20 people from Malaysia. That quickly ended when France threatened retaliation.
Now Malaysia has gradually loosened the movement restrictions they had in place and the country is slowly beginning to return to normal routines. Businesses have started to re-open. Meanwhile Spain is struggling to re-open without fear of a resurgence of the virus. Here people are beyond desperate to get back to their normal lives and the government seems to be struggling with how to manage the pandemic.
No one has figured it out how to deal with Covid-19 in this impossible scenario we are in but some countries are taking critical steps that is making a difference in the speed of contamination that we all can learn from.