Covid-19: The Air Force worker stuck in the cycle of managed isolation

Caryn Wilkinson Reporter from Community News

Royal New Zealand Air Force squadron leader Marcus Hogan is second in charge of the No 5 Squadron which flies P-3K2 Orions.

The 41-year-old pilot was deployed to Japan in December to patrol international waters in North Asia to detect vessels of interest and illicit ship to ship transfers.

The mission backed implementation of United Nations Security Council resolutions imposing sanctions against North Korea.

Hogan said he isolated for 14 days on arrival in Japan, operated under “level four lockdown” conditions for another four weeks, then returned home to another 14 days in managed isolation.

“You start going a bit stir crazy, then you stack up a couple of sets of isolation on that, and you start getting a bit twitchy,” the Whenuapai resident said.

Hogan packed his travel guitar, computer and books to keep busy.

He said some team members struggled with the long confinement “but we helped each other out, got some memes and some Viber groups going”.

The degree of discomfort from nose swabs depended on the skills and the speed of the person administering the test, he said.

During one “horrid” examination, a health worker was proceeding so slowly that Hogan started sneezing.

“Oh my word, it was uncomfortable. I was crying for about 10 minutes.”

The former airline pilot said before the pandemic, cabin crew and Orion personnel would typically spend their rest time abroad at the pool, going for a walk or doing something fun together.

“Now you talk to people on the aircraft, hop off and go to your own room and that’s the end of it.

“It definitely has taken a lot of that enjoyable social aspect out of it.”

Read about other air crew facing perpetual managed isolation here:

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