Thread by @SBengali

Last week in Singapore, my wife tested negative for the coronavirus. Here's a short thread about what she experienced as an American living in a country hailed for its success against #COVID19. 1/7

She's 42 and healthy but had to see her physician about a nagging cough and mild chest pain. She had no recent travel or contact with known infected people or clusters, which we knew from the (abundant) publicly available information about Covid-19 cases. 2/7

When she left for the doc, we knew she might be told to check into a hospital. What we didn't expect was that they'd call an ambulance to pick her up right from the clinic.

It happened so fast that she had to check Google Maps from her hospital bed to tell me where she was. 3/7

She was admitted to the isolation ward at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases, and immediately given the (awful) nasal swab test for Covid-19. The next morning we learned she had tested negative, but they would have to retest her to confirm. 4/7

Unfortunately the next day's swab didn't work, so they had to try again. Then they took a third test.

The days passed slowly. She missed our twins and human contact — medical staff visited her room sparingly, and in full spacesuit gear. 5/7

Doctors said she was a low-risk case, so treated with less urgency. They tested for TB, too; also negative. It would be five days before she was cleared to come home.

When she asked for the bill, she was told that the government had covered the entire cost of her stay. 6/7

Singapore's caseload is rising, and the government is cutting back on subsidized Covid-19 care. I now understand why it's such a draw. There have been times over the last 16 months living here that we've missed the U.S.; this was not one of them. 7/7

latimes.com/world-nation/s…