Attempting to Avoid Quarantine: One Traveler's Worries

Little known fact: I am traveling to China in the near future. My biggest worry is getting quarantined in Beijing.

Not that I have the H1N1 virus.

I can say with a fair amount of certainty that I do not have swine flu. However, it's increasingly clear that being swine flu free is itself no guarantee that you will escape quarantine.

In recent weeks, I've watched the news with increasing apprehension as story after story about quarantined travelers getting shipped into Beijing hotels by health workers in hazmat suits. They weren't allowed out for a week, and the only people they saw were workers in biohazard suits. Not the way anyone wants to spend a stay in Beijing.

The worst thing ever, I think, would be to have swine flu without knowing it, and then get on a plane to Beijing. Not only would you be quarantined, but everyone else on the plane would get quarantined, too.

And it would be all your fault.

Almost as bad is the flip side of the coin: getting quarantined because someone else on your flight had H1N1.

Incidentally, this just happened to the mayor of New Orleans, CNN reported.

Mayor Ray Nagin flew to China for an economic development trip, but it was not his lucky day. A passenger on his flight had symptoms suspected to be H1N1 virus. Specifically, the passenger sitting next to Nagin on the plane.

That's why Nagin, his wife, and a member of his security detail are all under quarantine in Shanghai, although none of them have symptoms, according to a statement from the mayor's office.

Nagin's not the first, and probably not the last, either. A whole class of American students on a field trip just got quarantined last week, under similar circumstances as Nagin.

Right now, I'm trying to figure out how I can escape quarantine, which would not ruin my life, but would ruin approximately a week of it. I'll only be in Beijing a couple of days, and would much rather climb the Great Wall than sit cloistered in a hotel room, thank you very much.

I've realized that the fate of my trip relies totally on the health of my fellow passengers, and that doesn't make me very happy. Not that I can do anything about it.

Either my trip will be a success, or you will receive a report before long, which will provide an insider's look of the quarantined life.

Sources: CNN, personal experience.