Penny’s Bay diary: Dante’s Inferno? Hardly. But whisky with the neighbours will have to wait as life in a Spartan dorm room commences

The Post’s managing editor settles in for his seven days at the government quarantine facility – after making the acquaintance of a couple spending their honeymoon there

The room is better than expected, the staff kind and efficient thus far, but the adventure is only beginning

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The government’s Penny’s Bay quarantine facility comes into view. Photo: Brian Rhoads

Published: 11:00am, 17 Dec 2021Updated: 4:56pm, 17 Dec 2021

South China Morning Post managing editor Brian Rhoads recently flew home to the United States to attend a memorial service for his late father. After he had already left, the Hong Kong government moved the US into a new high-risk category, meaning he will spend the first of his three weeks of quarantine at the government’s Penny’s Bay facility. Over the next seven days, he will recount his experience. You can read about Day 1 here.

The PCR coronavirus test for inbound passengers from CX873, taken just after disembarking the plane at Hong Kong International Airport after nearly 15 hours in the air, has come back negative for me.

After two weeks in the high-risk hot zone of the United States, and after two tests, there is no evidence yet of a personal infection from the Delta, Omicron or any other variant of Covid-19.

And so I queue to collect my reward: A brief bus ride across Lantau Island to the confines of the government quarantine centre at Penny’s Bay. It is time to put this pandemic internment centre’s notorious reputation to the test.

All staff working at Penny’s Bay are dressed in full protective gear while assisting guests. They’re also very nice. Photo: Brian Rhoads

Will it be a walk in the park? Or, perhaps more like Dante: “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here”?

Like many things in life, it will prove to be somewhere in between.

I’m staying solo and steeled by two previous rounds of quarantine – once for 14 days at home in 2020 when restrictions were still quite lax, another in August 2021 featuring 21 long days in a hotel.

Now, the first week for all us high-risk arrivals is spent in Penny’s Bay, with daily testing, after which – provided we test negative – we head off to hotels for the final two weeks.

SCMP Series

Penny’s Bay diary: a stint in Hong Kong quarantine

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Penny’s Bay diary: Dante’s Inferno? Hardly. But whisky with the neighbours will have to wait as life in a Spartan dorm room commences

The Post’s managing editor settles in for his seven days at the government quarantine facility – after making the acquaintance of a couple spending their honeymoon there The room is better than expected, the staff kind and efficient thus far, but the adventure is only beginning

The Post’s managing editor settles in for his seven days at the government quarantine facility – after making the acquaintance of a couple spending their honeymoon there

The room is better than expected, the staff kind and efficient thus far, but the adventure is only beginning