\n<\/p>\n
For the MV Hondius passengers quarantined at Arrowe Park hospital on the Wirral, it is likely to be a period of some anxiety.<\/p>\n
But there will be some consolations as they await the all-clear to return to their normal lives, says a veteran of the Covid-19 quarantine at the same site \u2013 such as jigsaws, gourmet ready-meals, and even a concierge service.<\/p>\n
After being evacuated from the hantavirus-hit cruise ship in Tenerife at the weekend, 20 British people, one German who lives in the UK, and one Japanese national are due to remain at the Merseyside hospital for 72 hours.<\/p>\n
They will be monitored by doctors and then told whether they can isolate for up to 45 days at home or at another location, in what the hospital described as \u201ca planned, controlled and carefully managed arrangement\u201d.<\/p>\n
The arrival of the passengers at the hospital, where they will be staying in a staff accommodation block away from the main hospital, was reminiscent of the early days of the Covid pandemic, when the building was last used as a quarantine facility.<\/p>\n
None of the 22 passengers are showing symptoms of hantavirus, and hospital staff have said the illness \u201cis not spread through everyday social contact, and there is no reason for local residents to be concerned\u201d.<\/p>\n
<\/span>The passengers arrived at Arrowe Park hospital on Sunday after being repatriated from the MV Hondius.<\/span> Photograph: Ioannis Alexopoulos\/Anadolu\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Matt Raw, 45, was evacuated from China to Arrowe Park in early 2020, along with about 80 other British citizens. They were moved to what he said \u201cwas basically the halls of residence for the students, who were moved out to make space for us\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were three bedrooms per suite with a communal lounge and kitchen for each suite,\u201d Raw said. \u201cWhilst for us, this meant sharing a suite with another person, it wouldn\u2019t surprise me if these people had a suite to themselves, given that there are only 20 or so people this time.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201cThe other big difference is that we had potentially been exposed to a new and unknown virus, whereas in this instance, it\u2019s a known virus.\u201d<\/p>\n Raw, who is originally from Cheshire and now lives in Wuhan, was evacuated from China alongside his mother, Hazel, and his Chinese wife, Ying, after the British government U-turned on a decision to only repatriate British citizens.<\/p>\n <\/span>Coronavirus: Brit arrives at Wirral hospital for quarantine after leaving Wuhan \u2013 video<\/span><\/p>\n He said that \u201ccommunicating with the outside world isn\u2019t too difficult\u201d, as they had access to television, the internet and social media at Arrowe Park.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was also a courtyard where we could go to get some fresh air,\u201d he said. \u201cFor us, the circumstances were somewhat different, but some people were understandably very worried about what might happen, and others were quite happy to be in the best place possible should they become ill. Everyone handles these situations differently.\u201d<\/p>\n Raw also said it was likely the 22 people would be able to socialise together while they stayed in Arrowe Park. He had even made lasting friendships from his own time in quarantine.<\/p>\n \u201cThe simple admin of daily life was pretty much enough to keep most people busy,\u201d he said, \u201cbut there was no shortage of entertainment, games consoles for those who wanted them, and of course there was the large supply of games and jigsaws that had been donated by the lovely people of Wirral.\u201d<\/p>\n Raw said they had eaten well while in isolation, as there was a \u201cwonderful concierge service who ordered food and beverages from the supermarket\u201d. They were able to cook their own meals, although they were also offered ready meals \u201cwhich were of excellent quality\u201d and hospital food.<\/p>\n <\/span>Matt Raw, seen here leaving Arrowe Park in 2020, advised those quarantined there to \u2018keep busy and the time will pass quickly\u2019. <\/span> Photograph: Peter Byrne\/Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cGiven that the lady who shared the suite with us was mostly busy with her two-year-old daughter, I ended up taking on the role of the apartment cook,\u201d Raw said. \u201cWe\u2019re still in touch and visit each other when possible. Whilst it did become a little boring after two weeks, I personally was never short of anything to do.\u201d<\/p>\n This time around, Raw said, the new residents at Arrowe Park may be more inclined to get some fresh air than when he had stayed there during a freezing cold January.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a pool table in a common area and I think that many of us had decided that there wasn\u2019t much point in not socialising given that if one of us was infected, then we were probably all infected, based on what we knew at the time,\u201d he said. \u201cThe weather was frankly horrendous whilst we were there, so there wasn\u2019t really much desire to go outside and socialise. The sun didn\u2019t actually come out to play until the day that we were released!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnyone who has done a reasonable amount of travelling or lived abroad will likely just treat it as one of life\u2019s minor inconveniences and find plenty of ways to entertain themselves whilst they wait for the quarantine period to pass,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019ll certainly be an experience to talk about when they arrive home.\u201d<\/p>\n His one piece of advice for those undergoing a similar situation would be to \u201cjust pretend that you\u2019re on holiday\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cKeep busy and the time will pass quickly,\u201d he said. \u201cA positive attitude and mindset will make a big difference, and don\u2019t dwell on the things over which you have no control.\u201d<\/p>\n Raw was pictured in February 2020 leaving the facility with his fist raised in the air, after being told he had tested negative for coronavirus.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember being quite ecstatic when I was told that not a single one of us had tested positive,\u201d he said. \u201cLet\u2019s hope that all the people staying here this time are equally as lucky.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For the MV Hondius passengers quarantined at Arrowe Park hospital on the Wirral, it is likely to be a period of some anxiety. But there will be some consolations as they await the all-clear to return to their normal lives, says a veteran of the Covid-19 quarantine at the same site \u2013 such as jigsaws,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49314,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[12065,7501,24439,24490,13035,2516,24462,969],"class_list":{"0":"post-49313","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-awaits","9":"tag-boring","10":"tag-hantavirus","11":"tag-hondius","12":"tag-merseyside","13":"tag-passengers","14":"tag-quarantined","15":"tag-weeks"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=49313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/49314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=49313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=49313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=49313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}