The local county
had been celebrating +0 for a couple of weeks since the start of recent
outbreak. A few possible clusters was noted but however did not expand into an
uncontrollable state.
The outbreak
started in late April where a few pilots from the local airlines were tested
positive. The incident was preceded by a relaxation of quarantine rule for
airline pilot by the local health authority. The initial rule was 5+9 where a
pilot had to be quarantine for 5 days followed by 9 days of self monitoring
period. Later the restriction was adjusted to 3+11 by mid of April.
The discovery of positive
cases among pilot was later follow by case from the community. Cases by cases
were noted among the resident of WH area(old town of T-city). Suddenly it had
become out of control with hundred of cases were reported in a single day. Major
hospital’s ICU was packed with patient, negative pressure rooms were filled up
quickly and patients were referred a few hundred km down south for critical care.
Most of the virus
strains noted was of the alpha strain, originated from the pilot cluster. The
medium of transmission was believed to be the N- hotel which manned by the government
own C- airline. The hotel had mixed its patron with the quarantined pilot at
the same floor. More and more cases were noted despite contact tracing and
isolation effort. An active lion club leader had spread the disease to its
member after attending a few gathering. The spreader was known as the ‘Lion
Ling’. A grape dealer had also formed a cluster transmitting to his relative
and friends. The final hit was noted after cases emerging from Tea lounge with
female GRO(guest relation officer) at the WH area.
The whole island
had fallen since then. Cases with foot step tracing back to the WH area was
noted. Luckily the southern part of the island had managed to stop the chain of
transmission by proper contact tracing and isolation. Within 4 weeks, the southern
part had managed to achieve zero case while the north was continually haunted
by cases of ? origin.
We had stood at
our principle of no travel, no contact history is considered safe rule.
We had wanted to
purchase PCR machine however no stock was available and we had to send our
sample out for testing initially. The whole process was tedious. Patient was admitted to
isolation ward pending negative test result. The ED was considered as hot zone
in many hospitals however we had treated our ED as grey area; not contaminated
nor clean. Some of our staff had started to loosen their grip and various
restricted wrong doing (swab test in the ED without proper precaution) was
noted.
PCR machine had
arrived later and rapid test kit was approved for after the initial
hazardous weeks we been through. The arsenal was built up slowly and the line of
defense had been stronger ever after.
Level 3 alert
state around the island had been a suffering stage for everyone. Dine in was not allow, food
joint had turned their focus to take away. Meal box was selling like hot cake
from some top notch restaurant. The only place allow to eat is your own
premise. Face mask was required everywhere except your house. All entertainment
joint had been shut down.
The local people
had confined themselves in the house and the southern part had been noted with
zero case weeks after the outbreak. We were looking forward to the relaxation
of critical state at the end of June but the falling boulder hit us one by one
until we were knocked out…
