Belizean Students on Self-Isolation Experience
Mia Miles
A number of Belizean students, who were studying overseas, have returned home and are in self-isolation due to the novel coronavirus. There is a fourteen-day incubation period for the virus so during that time there should not be contact with other persons. During this time, public health officers also monitor to determine if persons develop symptoms linked to COVID-19. Today, we reached out to several of these students, who recently travelled from countries with confirmed cases of the virus. Far worse than social distancing, they say that two weeks with no contact time with relatives and friends, is a mental drain. For Bryton Codd, who is studying in Canada on a sports scholarship, his isolation period ends later this week. Luckily for Mia Miles, who is studying at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, her isolation period ended on Sunday. They shared with News Five their experience.
Mia Miles, Belizean Student
“Before I even reached Belize, I put myself in self-isolation over in the Netherlands, because as you know the Netherlands have been increasing overtime. Right now they are one of the countries with the higher rates of the coronavirus. So I put myself in isolation there, as a student, and that was hard cause I had peers, like my friends, they were going out and weren’t paying much attention to it. When the things increased, I left the Netherlands and came to Belize. Being alone in a room for a little while, it does play its tolls on you, but at the end of the day, I realise what I was doing and putting myself in isolation was greater than even if I got bored, more than that. By putting myself in isolation, I knew I was protecting my family, my friends and overall the country and citizens here.”
On the Phone: Bryton Codd, Belizean Student in Isolation
“I think after my second day, I started having home anxiety experiences and I actually had to get a physician to come and see me because you start to think that you have all these symptoms, etc. And then I had my oxygen intake taken, etc. and it was at ninety-nine percent so anxiety is definitely one thing that builds up in self-isolation, especially being away from your family. I mean the only time I get to see my parents is in the afternoon time when they drop lunch at the door and it is from a distance. So I think that in itself is a mental thing that definitely builds up itself with self-isolation or self quarantine.”
