Coronavirus: Singapore millennials bond over food on Instagram during stay-home notices in hotels
- As lockdowns worldwide drive Singaporeans home, the city state is housing returnees at hotels to serve a mandatory 14-day stay-home notice
- No returnee is allowed contact with anyone, so young Singaporeans have been taking to social media to connect with one other over the national pastime – food
When Singaporean Denvy Lo, 38, learned she would have to serve a stay-home notice for 14 days after returning from San Francisco, she was filled with dread.
The recruiter has claustrophobia, a condition which can trigger anxiety or panic attacks when she is in an enclosed area, and she was worried about having to stay in an unfamiliar place which was not first carefully selected by her.
“As someone with claustrophobia, whenever I travel … I tend to pick hotels that don’t have closed windows or opt for a seat with more space when flying,” said Lo, who arrived back on March 27 as part of the first batch Singaporean returnees. “But this was something I couldn’t control because of the Covid-19 situation.”
But Lo relaxed when she was housed in a hotel room with large windows after she made her condition known, and began logging her experience on Instagram to ease the worries of her loved ones.
“I started using social media, partly to kill time, but also for my friends and family who were very worried,” said Lo, who is staying at the Grand Park Hotel. “Because I am among the first batch of people who has to serve their quarantine order in a hotel, they were especially worried for me.”
