How to choose a room, and planning for your Covid-19 home quarantine

It is very important you think through the room you’re going to quarantine yourself in, and all the things you have inside (plus what others at home might need later) because once you go into quarantine for at least 14 days, you have to minimise what comes out of the room once you’re inside.

1. Choose a room with an attached bathroom that no one else will use during your quarantine, preferably with a window or balcony to let in natural air and/or light.
2. Remove all unnecessary furniture, linen, or other household things that family members will need, and anything you might contaminate that’s not washable/sanitizable because then you’d probably have to throw it away (following Covid-19 waste disposal protocols) later.
3. Carry your prescribed medicines inside with you along with your prescription, and take responsibility for having them as prescribed on time. Also, keep some throat lozenges for your throat, and any other medicines you usually consume.
4. Take essential medical equipment into the room. A thermometer and an oximeter are a must! Plus anything else you may require particularly. I took my asthma inhaler and spacer with me as well.
5. Organise to receive fresh clothes every day. Ask someone to make a complete stack of your clothes for 14 days — from outerwear to innerwear — and keep them outside the room, with only 1–2 days’ fresh clothes inside with you. Because you don’t want to be opening cupboards or handling uncontaminated clothes when you’re infectious. Plan it in a way that someone will place fresh clothes outside your room daily, so you can take them in when you need a change.
6. Take in small quantities of snacks along with tea bags or coffee, for you to have whenever you want, without having to ask for it from outside and increasing contact with others. Remember, neither you nor your family should consume your unused snacks/condiments when you get better, so keep only what you can consume fully inside the room.
7. Don’t forget the water. This one time I’ll also recommend bottled drinking water packs, because your usual glass/plastic water bottles will have to leave the room and be handled by others, in order to be refilled. And you don’t want that to happen.
8. Plan for in-room dining. Take a couple of mugs, plates, and cutlery items inside, which you yourself can wash. And order some small biodegradable disposable plates, glasses, and cutlery to use and throw, as per Covid-19 waste management protocols.
9. Other essential items must include an electric kettle to make hot water for steam inhalation, and to make the aforementioned tea/coffee, mugs, cups, and cutlery that you can easily wash.
10. Keeping your room clean and safe. Keep small quantities of dishwashing detergent, and clothes detergent, surface sanitisers, hand sanitisers, along with relevant scrubs, tissue boxes, and toilet rolls if needed.
11. Waste management stuff. Garbage bags and two dust bins — one for food waste and other room stuff, and one for your used tissues, and masks.
12. Keep Masking yourself. N95 Masks, please get plenty, and change them every day. You may be alone in the room, but you will need it every time you open the door to receive food, or hand over garbage for disposal.

If you don’t have any or some of the things listed above, if you’re in India, you can order them on Amazon.in, or your local delivery service like Big Basket, or Swiggy.

I hope this list helps.

You can also read about my first-hand experience with being Covid-19 positive, and my home isolation challenges and learnings, in this post.