So How Was Your Trip, Dr. Metzl? I Was Quarantined in China

He was supposed to lecture at a Chinese medical school but things didn't turn out as planned for Dr. Jonathan Metzel, a psychoanalyst who lives in Kansas City.  This is an excerpt from a post by Metzel for  Midwest Voices, a blog associated with the Kansas City Star.

This morning, Chinese medical observation officers woke me from a deep sleep. I opened my eyes to three figures, draped from head to toe in infection control gowns, goggles, gloves, shoe covers, and face masks, who surrounded my bed in a remote room in a run-down motel in rural China.

Temperature” said the first officer though his mask before placing a thermometer under my arm. “Food ok, yes?” asked the second.

After my temperature read as normal, the third officer handed me a small bouquet of flowers to celebrate the start of my fifth day in H1N1/swine flu quarantine. The hazmat trio left after five minutes, and I was left to ponder yet another day in isolation.

It was not supposed to be this way. Six days ago, I flew from Detroit to Shanghai to lecture at an esteemed Chinese medical school. As a physician, I knew of China’s aggressive public health response to the H1N1 virus. Thus I was not wholly surprised when a team of masked public health officials met our flight and took temperatures from every arriving passenger. The display seemed excessive and somewhat nonsensical (“Have you had contact with pigs?” each passenger was asked), but we were quickly set free. I passed through customs and cabbed to my downtown hote