"I am an asymptomatic infected person, and my experience may help many people"

What would you do if the nucleic acid test results are abnormal?

In recent days, a shared document titled "Shanghai Nucleic Acid Test Abnormal Self-help Manual" has been widely circulated among community owners and resident family groups. The founder, Wang Hai, was an asymptomatic infected person in this round of epidemic. This article is his self-narration.

I received that unforgettable phone call.

"Your nucleic acid test results are abnormal."

When I received this call, I was in centralized quarantine at the hotel. Later, I became one of the asymptomatic infections announced by Shanghai every day.

On March 8, someone from our company came to a meeting, and the next day this colleague was told that he was a close contact.

At noon on March 10, I was in home quarantine when I suddenly received a call from the CDC, saying that I needed to be quarantined in a hotel for 14 days.

At around 6 o'clock in the evening on March 11, I took a 120 ambulance to the quarantine hotel.

On the afternoon of March 12, the results of the nucleic acid test came out - abnormal. The medical staff said that I needed to take another nucleic acid test. Soon, the staff on site took another nucleic acid test for me. At about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, I was notified that there was a set of protective clothing at the door, and I needed to put on the protective clothing immediately and transport me out.

An hour later, I was in a larger ambulance and headed to the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center in Jinshan.

Put on protective clothing and prepare to go to Wang Hai in Jinshan

During hospitalization

A lot of things happened that impressed me

The moment I stepped into the ward, I was overwhelmed with confusion. I was a little scared.

There are thousands of patients here. I noticed that there was a QR code on the bed, which said: If you have any questions, please contact the attending physician, and they will answer your questions one by one via WeChat after seeing it.

I left a message with the mentality of giving it a try, saying that I had developed sleep problems after moving to an unfamiliar environment. Unexpectedly, the next day a doctor prescribed me some sleeping pills. My sleep problems were improved.

Wang Hai on the hospital bed

During hospitalization, we will have a comprehensive physical examination and treatment every day. There are at least two nurses on duty on each floor, who will tell us in detail the precautions during hospitalization.

During this period, many unforgettable things happened to me. My wife and I were lucky enough to be assigned to the same ward. I was very worried that she would not have hot water to drink, so I always wanted to boil some water and send it to her, but every time the nurse saw me, she would sternly remind me not to walk around or leave the ward at will.

These nurses are actually very young. Seeing the young men in our ward eat a lot, they would bring extra portions. When one young man was about to recover and was ready to be discharged, his appetite became very large. When he saw a few buckets of instant noodles on the nurse's table, he jokingly asked if he could share some. Unexpectedly, the nurse agreed very readily.

This time when I was hospitalized with my wife, nothing particularly romantic happened. At most, I ran to the hospital store to buy some snacks and brought them to her, and then we watched TV series and movies on our phones at the same time.

Time suddenly became a very vague concept. The tedious work had long been thrown out of my mind. I drank water, supplemented protein, and got enough sleep every day so that my body could recover faster.

On March 24, I finally received a call from my attending physician, who said, "Congratulations, your nucleic acid test CT value has reached the discharge standard, and you can go through the discharge procedures tomorrow." Even happier, my wife also received a discharge notice the day before.

Later, the nurse came to me again to fill out some forms. She told me that I could choose home quarantine or hotel quarantine, but hotel quarantine would be at my own expense. I chose home quarantine.

On the morning of March 25, the nurse gave me the discharge summary. I asked if I needed to pay for it. The nurse replied, "No, just use the medical insurance." The deposit I paid before hospitalization was also fully refunded. In this way, my wife and I finally returned to our warm home.

On the bus back home from the hospital

Suddenly I felt at home

Is the greatest happiness

After returning home, I felt a sense of relief.

Puxi is under lockdown, and our family has made preparations in all aspects early on. After all, we must win this battle.

Relatives and friends showed unprecedented solidarity. Several of my good friends brought me eggs, vegetables, meat and other supplies at the gate of the community, and volunteers then delivered them to my door. Every time I opened the bag, my heart was always warm.

After this experience, I suddenly feel that being at home is the greatest happiness. Many friends also told me that they felt a little "emo" during the home quarantine. I work in the ocean, and I think it might be helpful to listen to the sounds of waves crashing, dolphins playing, and seagulls flying online at this time to relieve my mood.

Positive emotions help us recover more easily

Speaking of the document I made, "Shanghai Nucleic Acid Test Abnormality Self-Help Manual", I actually had the idea quite a long time ago.

Like other citizens, I read a lot of news and browsed a lot of self-media, and my mood was indeed mixed. I kept thinking, if I really want to make my hometown a better place, what should I do?

One night, a friend asked me that a relative of theirs had an abnormal nucleic acid test result and needed to be quarantined. He was panicking and didn’t know how to prepare. He was very anxious. He heard that I had just experienced this, so he asked me what I needed to do.

Thinking of this, I suddenly realized that my experience may help many people. Although many people think this is a private matter, I am willing to tell everyone the whole process.

The reason why it is called "self-help" is because I feel from the bottom of my heart that medical staff are really very busy, and many things can actually be solved by ourselves. The document contains my own personal experience and is very practical. For example, what should I do if I receive a call from the CDC, and what should I bring to the centralized isolation point.

Wang Hai detailed the preparations for centralized quarantine in the document

From the initial confusion to the gradual resolution of anxiety, as well as the communication between patients during this process, I wanted to write down the entire process so that everyone can be prepared.

It took me only 20 minutes to write this document. I chose to share the document because I wanted more people from different regions to write their stories. At the end of the document, there is a place to ask questions. I also hope to help those who need help.

If someone has an abnormal nucleic acid test result like me, I still want to say, don't be too stressed. From my experience, people are quite tolerant of this matter, and it is not something to be ashamed of.

After the document was released, what touched me the most was that many people sent me screenshots of the group chats in which they forwarded my document, and told me that this document really helped some people. In my opinion, this reflects the value of the document.

Don’t lose confidence completely because of one or two things. When we are in the dark, we must not forget that after a few hours of perseverance, we will see the sunrise. (To protect the privacy of the interviewees, this article uses pseudonyms)

Source: Science Popularization China WeChat Official Account

All pictures are provided by the interviewees