'Never been happier to have pneumonia': Suspected Covid-19 case shares behind-the-scenes details and applauds NCID staff

At any other time, getting diagnosed with pneumonia would be a bummer. But in the midst of a global Covid-19 pandemic, this man says he's "never been happier".

Writing from his isolation ward at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID), Mike Davie took to Facebook yesterday (March 25) to recount his harrowing coronavirus scare, revealing behind-the-scenes details about what it's like for potential Covid-19 patients in Singapore. 

The post, which has amassed over 3,100 shares, spared no detail on Davie's experience. But here are the most illuminating tidbits we gleaned.

How he became a suspected Covid-19 case

Davie first realised that something was wrong when he developed a fever and a dry cough on Monday (March 23) after completing 15 days of self-isolation.

The CEO and founder of technology company Quadrant, who is based in Singapore, had recently returned from a family trip to South Korea and Canada and was considered to be at "high risk" of getting infected.

After recounting his travel history and symptoms to a doctor at a clinic, he was "thrown into an experience like no other".

What followed was a flurry of activity.

The doctor "leapt into action" and had him wait in an isolation room. Meanwhile, staff began to decontaminate the clinic, which was located on the third storey of a mall.

To get to the ambulance that would convey him to NCID, he had to walk through a back hallway and several flights of stairs before exiting from the mall's back door.

Ambulance-pooling to NCID

On the way to NCID, the ambulance stopped to pick up two other suspected cases.

But even with multiple patients sharing an ambulance, there was a long line of ambulances ahead of his as he entered the NCID, he said, putting the figure at about 200.

There were "hundreds and hundreds" of people and the hospital looked like a "war zone", except for the fact that the healthcare workers were all "calm, deliberate, organised and professional," he wrote.

The dreaded swab test

Unfortunately for Davie, an x-ray revealed that his lungs were infected.

While others who received the all-clear on their x-ray were able to head home and wait for their test results, Davie was sent to an NCID isolation room where he was "amazed" at the level of precautions taken.

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To enter his room, the staff had to suit up in their personal protective equipment (PPE) and had to go through two doors.

Once they left the room, they disposed of all of the PPE in a separate decontamination room.

The tedious process was repeated "over and over again" whenever any staff visited him, he said.

Then came the nasal swab test.

"For people who scroll [through] Facebook and have seen where the swab goes... Yes… It hurts... It is not pleasant."

He added: "If you haven't seen, well it goes in your nose and tickles your brain it seems."

Multiple tests despite negative result

But that wasn't the last nasal swab test in store for Davie.

Even after receiving the news that he tested negative for Covid-19, he has to remain in the isolation room for two more nights (and counting) and undergo two more swab tests, just in case of a false negative.

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Nevertheless, he remains optimistic. In his words: "I have never been happier to only have pneumonia."

The first-hand experience at NCID has given him a new appreciation for Singapore and its healthcare workers, Davie said.

"The system here in Singapore is beyond amazing to witness. But there is a limit to its capacity. Today they are in good shape but that is because of the measures they take to keep it that way.

"For societies and people who are taking the social distancing as a joke, get your act together. If you saw what is going on the inside, you'd sober up quite quickly on the reality that our medical systems face."

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kimberlylim@asiaone.com