It finally happened, we've been issued our first official "Stay at Home Notice."

MsI has had the sniffles. It's day 4, she's almost better, but I was convinced by others in our household to take her to the Doctor. MsI's been a little grumpy, but other then one night where she wanted to sleep with me, she's been totally fine. She's still got a bit of a funny voice, and she lightly coughs a couple time upon waking up. I figure that's just her runny nose tickling her throat. We've kept her strictly in the house, and no one else in our house has any symptoms.

It seems that people in Singapore go to the Doctor for everything and they tend to think that you need medicine to get over everything too. So a sick kid in the house, who hadn't seen the doctor, was really worrying our Helper, and it is in "the time of Covid," so I get it. I didn't mind taking MsI for a check up at the end of her cold.

I'm probably seen as a negligent parent in Singapore for having waited four days. I did check the Children's Hospital website here when she first got sick, and they currently say, you can still watch cold symptoms for a number of days, and just go to a doctor if they get worse. The doctor didn't seem concerned that I had waited.

I called the neighbourhood clinic to see if I needed an appointment, telling them MsI's symptoms. They said, just walk-in. It was a full waiting room. They knew who we were when we arrived though and got us in and out quickly. It just shows how much things have changed in relation to Covid.

Last Spring we saw the same clinic, suited in full PPE at the mall's back elevator with security in tow. The elevator exits to outside the mall right at the loading bay. To our horror, the fully suited PPE staff, entered and went down the elevator with us. They told us they were about to receive a suspected Covid case. At the bottom a second security guard was waiting for us. He literally told us to "Run!", and pointed the direction we were to run, which we all did. I still have a mini-panic attack just thinking about it.

Today, we walked through the full waiting room, after awaiting our turn outside in the mall main corridor. We were in masks, just like everyone who leaves their house in Singapore. The doctor handed MsI a yellow toy car to play with while he took her temperature, looked at her throat, listened to her heart, weighed her, said, she was fine and "Don't go to the playground for 3 days." He said he'd "prescribe" her a few things. When I asked him what he would prescribe, he looked at me quizzically, and said "They're for her symptoms," without explaining much more.

When I told MsI we could go home, she looked at me in shock and uttered, "But I didn't see the Doctor!" I told her we'd just been with the doctor. "But he wasn't wearing a white coat!," she exclaimed. Now, I'm trying to remember if our Pediatrician wears a white coat or if MsI is thinking of the show Doc McStuffins which we watch on Disney Plus.

As I was paying at the front counter, we were handed an allergy medicine, a cough medicine, and Panadol (like Tylonol), each with printed notes stuck on them stating when to take them and how much specific to MsI's weight. Such as "Take 5 ml at bedtime." They're all over the counter medicines that we already had in our house.

I won't give MsI the cough syrup; she isn't coughing. I'll try a dose of the allergy medicine, and see if it stops the runny nose. Frankly, this may just be allergies. Everything is in bloom here. If it's not allergies, I bet we won't need it by tomorrow night. I'm more likely to use it for MsE's actual allergies; she got the same "prescription" from our Pediatrician for itchy skin. Panadol is similar to Tylonol, and we use that stuff all the time around here. I'm always happy when the doctor hands it out and I don't have to go to the drug store to buy it.

The best part, after the bag of medicine and the $60 bill (1/2 of which was the unnecessary over the counter medicines), they handed me a 5 day Stay at Home Notice - a government order for MsI to not leave the house. I figured a Stay at Home Notice was likely coming, but I questioned why it was 5 days. The doctor clearly told me to "stay away from the playground for 3 days." The receptionist's response was clear herself; she told me, "It's the law," rather gruffly.  

The doctor's office must issue a 5 day stay at home notice if you exhibit respiratory illness symptoms. The notice is to be 5 days from the doctor's visit, regardless of how long you were exhibiting symptoms before that. I can appreciate the importance of ensuring people actually ensuring people aren't skipping a few days of Stay at Home by lying about when they got sick, so that makes perfect sense. But practically, I should have taken her on day one, because I'll be keeping my by then well child in the house for an extra couple day.

I really don't mind the stay at home notice. It's super clear. I know exactly when she can go out again. It's just mildly frustrating that I've kept her at home intentionally for 4 days and once she had a no symptom day, I probably would have let her go out to play the day after. I'm guessing that will be about day 6, so she'll end up with 9 days in the house instead of 6. Whatever.

I made sure to clarify with the desk, that the stay at home notice is only for MsI, and not me or anyone else in the house. It is only for MsI. No one else in our house needs to stay in. No one else has any symptoms either.

MsE's response to the words "Stay at Home," was "So I can't go to the playground? I want to go to the Pooooool." Nope, sorry. There's a maximum penalty of $10,000, up to 6 months in a Singapore prison, or the more likely, because we are on work and dependent passes, being evicted from Singapore and barred from ever working or living here again.

So, no MsI, you will not be going to the playground or the swimming pool this week.

I posted the Stay at Home Notice beside our elevator button, highlighting the penalty, just in case one of us somehow forgets that MsI can not go out.  

Here's MsI eating lunch at home after our Doctor's visit: The not-so-sick kid, serving her Stay at Home Notice.