Brookline Native Who Self-Quarantined For Coronavirus Calls Experience 'Harrowing'
BOSTON (CBS) -- Alexander Lee, a Brookline native, has never been sick with the coronavirus. But he said his self-quarantine, while necessary, has cost him a lot of time and money.
"I'm here because my government told me that I needed to return to the United States," he said.
Lee had been living with his girlfriend in China, working as a teacher in the city of Guangzhou. As the coronavirus scare grew, he got a U.S. State Department advisory at the beginning of February telling Americans to leave the area.
"It said we should depart by commercial means. It didn't say we should consider," he said.
So Lee found a seat on a flight to New York. When he landed at JFK Airport, Centers of Disease Control representatives told him to self-quarantine, but said it wasn't mandatory.
"I thought renting my car was the most sensible thing I could do because I could distance myself from public transportation," he said.
Lee found an Airbnb in upstate New York. A couple days later, the local health department had him sign a quarantine contract.
"They did tell me that they would go and get a court order if I didn't agree," he said.
It was lonely, Lee said, and expensive: about $4,000.
"Quarantine is really harrowing," he said. "My computer was my lifeline, and on day two, I got a battery error," he said.
But Lee's computer hung on, allowing him to teach online classes with his students sheltering in place in China.
"I blogged a lot and I walked around the property and I cooked," he said
As more and more people in Massachusetts self-quarantine, Lee worries that true isolation is nearly impossible. "I know that the temptation is pretty high," he said.
Lee also worries about whether the U.S. is ready to handle what he witnessed in China. "If that happens here, I'm really worried. It has paralyzed the economy."
