Amara Allison, is the Doctor who identified Nigeria’s covid-19 index case . She narrates the intense loneliness she experienced during her 14-day isolation.
She went into the mandatory 14-day quarantine to ensure she has not contracted the disease. This is sequel to her close contact with the 44-year old Italian, Nigeria’s index case who arrived the country on a business trip and took ill.
He was diagnosed by Amara Allison and found to be suffering from COVID19. The yet to be named Italian was subsequently transferred to Lagos where he was successfully managed at the Infectious Diseases Hospital.
In an interview with W H O, Amara speaks about the near depression and general psychological trauma she passed through even as a doctor.
Her Story:
“On the 1st day, I didn’t quite understand the gravity of it. I guess I was unconsciously in a lot of denial, thinking, ‘no, not me’ which in retrospect wasn’t such a bad thing. This feeling lasted the first 48 hours.
“By the 3rd day, it was like a flood gate opened and a dam of emotions hit me smack in the face and gut. I woke up on day 3 and I just couldn’t get out of bed. That was the day the protective shock wore off. I was now unavoidably afraid. This point was where I realised the importance of a support system. Luckily, my family didn’t fall short.
“The psychological trauma was my greatest challenge, just being with my thoughts alone for 14 days, good, bad, ugly. I also had to deal with the accompanying boredom and missing real human contact. It hit me really bad because aside from all that was going on, I’m a very physically active person and I couldn’t be that doing this period.
“However, it wasn’t all fear if I’m being honest. The quarantine period also gave me time to self-develop as much as possible (through online courses) which was also a very warm form of distraction.
“By the 5th day in, I learnt to dispel my boredom and persistent anxiety with movies and books. I’m a fitness enthusiast and as difficult as it was for me to muster the mental energy to workout, whenever I did eventually workout, it lifted my mood significantly and left me feeling healthier.
Amara concludes that “we were comfortable in quarantine: steady power supply, spacious rooms, healthy frequent meals surely made it liveable. It’s also important to anticipate boredom, low moods, maybe even depression. Having several means of entertainment would remedy that to an extent.”