Just want to share my experience, here in Kaohsiung. I got flu and sore throat yesterday. No fever but I decided not to go to work today and get checked by a doctor, just to be on the safe side.
Went to the hospital reception to ask if I should go to ER or just get a regular doctor appointment. She checked my temperature and got me a regular doctor’s appointment.
I got the appointment, went to the doctor’s room and there was this old nurse standing outside. My mistake, I asked her for help to check which room doctor was in. She started asking me questions. I told her I had flu and sore throat. She asked me the location of my workplace. I told her near the Kaohsiung port. She heard “you came here on a ship”. She panicked. Started running here and there. Wouldn’t let me see the doctor.
At the time when I met her she was only wearing a mask. She then made me wait at an isolated place then disappeared inside the doctors office only to return in a full hazmat suit. I knew that was a bad sign.
There were 10 other Taiwanese waiting there to be checked by doctor. Many of them were sneezing and coughing. But only I was getting this “special treatment”.
Do you know those “point-collector” secretaries / special assistants everywhere in Taiwan ? They are usually more brutal than the bosses, and are always trying to impress the boss by being super strict by basically being an a$$hole. You know what I am talking about. Anyways, she reminded me of that.
The superhero secretary put on her suit and protected her boss from a sick alien.
Next she told me she will take me to ER to take COVID test. I told her I offered to go to ER already but was told not to because I had no fever.
She then went to the reception and yelled at the lady there for letting me come inside. I could somewhat understand their communication. The lady in reception kept telling her “he has no fever”. They old nurse said, “doesn’t matter”.
In between their conversation the nurse would yell at me whenever I swayed a bit or someone passed me. She keep yelling “don’t go near anyone, don’t move.” “Stay away from people” Bla bla bla
I think I was starting to feel like a South Asian ship crew member already.
(I told my wife that causal shorts, t-shirt and slippers don’t go well with my stature and complexion but she insisted I should dress more casually like some of my Caucasian friends. Well, lesson learnt!)
The nurse then proceeded to walk me to the ER. Meanwhile asking me questions, e.g “Where are your other colleagues? Aren’t they on the ship? Are they sick like you? “
I said, “I don’t work on a ship. Our company is located near the port”. “& All my colleagues are Taiwanese”. “ She quickly dropped the topic.
Then she said “you live alone?”. I said I’m living with wife and daughter. She said “call them, bring them here”. I said they have no symptoms and I had already self-isolated the moment I had a flu. She insisted they need to test too. I said they aren’t picking up the phone. She dropped it then.
Then she dropped me at the COVID test queue outside the ER. She spoke to the lady in charge there and left.
A guy there was pre-checking everyone’s forms and passports and travel documents while they were in line. When he got to me he made some fuss because I didn’t have passport & flight ticket. I kept telling him I am not traveling. He told me then I don’t need the test. He made me get out of the COVID queue and put me go in to the regular ER queue so I could get diagnosed.
While waiting there, I was again pulled out by the lady in charge of COVID testing. Meanwhile she and the other guy discussed about my lack of passport and ticket. She insisted to him that I needed to take the test (probably convinced by the old nurse). Then she helped me to fill the form:
- Fever = No (she checked)
- Diarrhea = No
- Muscle pain = No
- Nausea = No
- Cough = No
- Headache = No
- Lost of taste / smell = No
- Chest pain = No
- Shortness of breath = No
- Flu / Runny nose = Yes
- Sore throat = Yes
Then she took me to test area (an isolated place outside the ER) where it was lunch time now so I waited for about an hour before being called to take my test. .
When my turn came I noticed the guy who was going to take my test was sneezing and coughing. I wondered if he had been forced to test too. Anyways the guy taking the test was incredibly rude and angry for some reason :
Him : “Open your mouth”
Me : Removed my mask, & opened my mouth
Him : Not mouth, “Open your nose!!”
Me: Repositioning my head so my nose could look more “open”
Him : Yelling “Wear your mask!!”
Me: I put on my mask again
Him: Yelling “Open your nose!!”
Me: Lowering the mask again to my chin
Him : Yelling with a bulging vein on the forehead “Cover your mouth!! open your nose!!”
Me: lowered the mask so that it only covered my mouth, used my nose muscles to force them to open
He pushed the thing in my nose so hard. It was so damn painful. I felt pain in my entire skull. Especially left side of the head, left ear, the inside of nose and throat. The pain didn’t subside for an hour. Actually still feeling ear pain now.
I keep telling myself that he didn’t intentionally do it harshly just because he was angry at me. This is probably just how it normally feels after a test.
After the test I waited for an hour again in an isolated area outside the ER with other COVID test takers (don’t know if that’s safe). Then a doctor came and went through the entire list of symptoms with me again. I answered the same. He said I just needed to get some rest (ironic since they made me stand in the heat outside for 2 hours). He said he would prescribe me some medicine.
“But First I must ask you to take a COVID test”
Me: Yelling, “I just took it!!!”
Him: After confirming with others , “Uhm, Oh okay”
Waited another 30 minutes before another lady came with medicines. Told me to give her 800NT cash. I only had 600NT. She wouldn’t accept any cards. There was a 7/11 just across the street but she wouldn’t let me go there to get more cash. Just took the 600NT and left me waiting again.
Came back with receipt and some papers. Then proceeded to tell me that I need to “quarantine” for 14 days.
I refused, explaining to her that I haven’t traveled anywhere. I haven’t left Kaohsiung in 1.5 years. Not even been to north of Taiwan. I asked her where were the rules that say I needed to be quarantined. She handed me a paper with list of rules to follow.
Thankfully the paper was in English. The paper said, “As you have had COVID contact history…… “
(But I don’t have any COVID contact history whatsoever. I wasn’t in any cluster or know anyone or met anyone who was COVID positive or suspected of COVID. I just got flu, probably from drinking cold beer too often. )
Luckily I was able to point out to her where it clearly said that , “COVID suspected cases don’t need to home quarantine”, instead it’s just 14 days of “self-management”.
She said, “Uhm, okay!” and then let me go home.
Bottom line: My intention here is just to give a heads-up to everyone on what you can expect if you go to a hospital even with a single symptom of COVID.
I absolutely don’t want to discourage people from going to a hospital, but I’ll be honest that my experience wasn’t pleasant.
I was being extra cautious when I went there just after a single day of flu. Under normal circumstances I wouldn’t go to a hospital until I had a fever or had been ill for 2 or 3 days at least.
Anyways, I didn’t expect that I would be immediately treated like a COVID suspect and forced to take a test, then be put in 2 days lockdown till my result comes back and be made to do 14 days self-management.
I am pretty sure I am going to lose two weeks income (maybe more) as I will most likely not be allowed to go to work once I tell my boss I need two days leave while I wait for my COVID test result.