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Be mindful, don’t mope: how to cope with family separation in lockdown, and the loneliness, anxiety and depression it can cause
- Kim Fenton has been separated from her family in Thailand for two months, while Gloria Wong has been stuck in Beijing since early February
- Their circumstances highlight the social and mental health issues families everywhere face as the pandemic continues. Psychologists offer advice on what to do
Reading Time:5 minutes
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When Kim Fenton learned of pending travel restrictions to stem the coronavirus pandemic, she knew she had to cut short her holiday to be with her beloved 13-year-old dog Zucchi.
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As she boarded a flight to Hong Kong from Krabi in Thailand on March 21, leaving her family behind, she had no idea they would be separated for months with no end in sight.
“At the time, I did not know that all flights would soon be cancelled,” Fenton says. She thought she might return to Thailand after she had finished the requisite 14-day quarantine at home for Hong Kong residents who returned from abroad and tested negative for Covid-19. Barring that, with the pandemic in Hong Kong so well controlled, “I thought my family would return from Krabi soon after.”
Her daughter is former Hong Kong swimmer and Olympian Robyn Lamsam, now a professional master of ceremonies. She and husband Marc Convery, a trader, have been in Krabi with their four-year-old son Kyle since the Lunar New Year holiday, having flown there for what they said would be a short trip.
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Not seeing them in more than two months has been crushing for Fenton.
“There are actually no words to describe how I feel to be separated from them. I am very close to my daughter. Before this, I had never been apart from my grandson, Kyle, not even for one day since his birth.
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