The electronic wristband was her constant companion for two quarantined weeks. AP tech writer zensoo in Hong Kong chronicles her experiences with the gadget and the rules behind it in the latest Virus Diary.
Associated Press reporter Zen Soo pokes her head out the window for some fresh air while serving her 14-day quarantine at home in Hong Kong, April 17, 2020. Hong Kong issued quarantine wristbands to monitor returning residents of the city while they serve their mandatory 14-day quarantine, in a bid to curb local transmissions of COVID-19 during the pandemic.
In online pictures, the trackers were inconspicuous devices almost like a concert wristband. Those didn’t look so bad. What I got, though, was a gadget about the size of a deck of cards that I had to pair with a government quarantine app. After that, if I left my home or stepped more than 30 feet from my phone for a prolonged period of time, the app would alert authorities that I may have broken quarantine.
I wasn’t about to take it off to find out, even though having a tracker branded me as a potential risk to society, at least for two weeks. I found myself trying to hide it when I arrived at my apartment building, afraid others might see and shun me. Despite the jokes, I was keenly aware that I was privileged to be in comfortable quarters, unlike some who had to quarantine in Hong Kong’s infamous cage homes — regular apartments effectively subdivided into tiny cells.
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