Coronavirus: musician from Hong Kong’s Covid-19 bar cluster recounts harrowing experience of battle with disease
- Mark Anthony Balcueva struggled to breathe and had to be put on a cocktail of drugs, with only the thought of his daughter back in the Philippines keeping him alive
- He knew of the crowd risks before city shut down its nightlife, but had to perform to earn his keep, and says management should have been more vigilant
Mark Anthony Balcueva knew there was a chance he might catch Covid-19, but he was still shaken to his core when he received news of his infection, which resulted in a close brush with death and 13 days in hospital.
The 41-year-old Filipino drummer and father of one performed in packed bars in Hong Kong six nights a week to make ends meet, but 48 hours after his last show on March 23, he became seriously ill with stomachache and diarrhoea, and a persistent fever of more than 39 degrees Celsius.
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“I cried so hard for the first time, because I didn’t know what was next,” he recalled. Balcueva has heard many grim stories of coronavirus patients, and knew it was up to fate. “I didn’t know if I was [going to be] the one to die or recover.
“If I slept, I didn’t know if I would still be alive tomorrow.”
In hospital, Balcueva’s condition worsened. He lost his sense of taste, had an acute shortness of breath, and had to be given oxygen. His lung scans revealed patterns similar to frosted glass.
“I was opening my mouth wide and gasping for air, but it felt like something was pressing my chest and the air simply wouldn’t go in. Every breath was an effort.”
For a few days, Balcueva drank only water and ate biscuits because of difficulties in breathing and swallowing. He said what kept him going was his eight-year-old daughter back in the Philippines. “Every day I tried to call her using FaceTime. I told her, ‘don’t worry, I’m going to recover’. Because being a father is about not letting your daughter worry.”
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The first patient in the bar cluster emerged on March 18, and the last was almost a month later on April 13. The infections started with customers and workers at a number of bars and pubs in the nightlife districts of Lan Kwai Fong, Wan Chai and Tsim Sha Tsui, and later spread to their close contacts and family members, including a six-week-old baby, the youngest local patient recorded, who was believed to have contracted the virus through an infected person from the cluster.
Hong Kong shut bars, pubs and nightclubs on April 3 following a wave of related infections.
The city recorded no new cases on Saturday, with the total tally at 1,039 and four deaths, although a five-day streak of no infections was broken a day earlier by two patients who tested positive among a group of Pakistan returnees.
The city’s record of no local infections for 13 days in a row still stood as of Saturday.
I was just doing my job and I have done everything I can by wearing masks and cleaning my hands
Balcueva has performed at Insomnia, Centre Stage, Dusk till Dawn and All Night Long – all linked to the bar cluster – but said he was still unsure where he got infected.
“I wear masks every day even when I go to the market or walk down the street. I wore masks at the bars until I performed because it’s hard to sing behind a mask.” Balcueva also had meals with his bandmates in bar kitchens before they took to the stage. Another member in his band of six was also infected.
Balcueva said he knew of the risks, because in bars there were many people in a “dark environment”, but said he had to soldier on to make HK$9,000 (US$1,160) a month. “I also have the passion to play music.”
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As a Covid-19 patient, he was given a US$200 (HK$1,550) handout by the Philippine government, but Balcueva argued that the illness should be listed as an occupational hazard in Hong Kong to protect against work-related infections.
“I was just doing my job and I did everything I could by wearing masks and cleaning my hands,” he said. “I am trying not to feel angry, but I think our company could have told us earlier that others in the bars may have been infected, and let us know about the risks.”
Balcueva was discharged on April 6 after a cocktail therapy of drugs helped improve his condition, but he still has to go back to the hospital for further check-ups. Fortunately, he feels his lung functions have largely returned to normal, and he can walk up the stairs without struggling to catch his breath.
Above all, he is deeply grateful to the doctors and nurses who looked after him in Ruttonjee Hospital. “I am not even a Hong Kong national. They really saved my life, I am so thankful.”
He said he might still return to performing when bars reopened, if he needed the cash. “But for now, my birthday is next month, and I need to celebrate the second life I was given. I feel so blessed.”
This is the third of a four-part series on the 100th day of Hong Kong’s Covid-19 crisis. Other parts of this series have examined how the pandemic exposed Hong Kong’s inadequate links between public and private hospitals; the deepest fears held by some of the city’s medical heroes; and, how the pandemic has officials rethinking plans for Hong Kong’s public hospitals.
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