They received this text from the "very strict" Xiuhuan, who imposed a 14-day self-quarantine on the sisters. The message had such clear instructions on what to do the moment they reached home, you'd think she's done this before. 

She wrote: "Go straight to your room, leave the baggage at the car porch. Aunty [their domestic helper] and I will [sterilise] it. Just stay in your room and don't come out." She also instructed them that once they were in their rooms, they were not allowed to leave at all. 

“[My mum] didn’t even want to see me when I came home after my flight… Like, she didn’t even text me ‘Welcome home’... It’s damn sad! I really want some human interaction… I need a hug from my parents,” Shalynn, 20, said. “But I’m super proud of my parents for being so socially responsible! They send us CNA updates every day too!” 

It's Day Six of their self-imposed quarantine today (Mar 24) and Shanisse and Shalynn are dutifully holing themselves up in their bedrooms. They communicate with their parents mainly via text these days. In fact, the girls have only seen their mum through the window. 

Fortunately for them, they both have en-suite bathrooms in their rooms, so there's no need to worry about crossing paths with family members when they need the loo. Meals are left outside their rooms for them to pick up. 

Shanisse, 21, is disappointed that she isn't able to continue with her medical internship, but she’s in no hurry to get back to Boston. 

“For the time being, [I] definitely [won’t go back]. But I was so sad to leave ‘cos it was a highly sought after internship! But when I saw the situation last week, honestly all I wanted to do was to get home and stay in Singapore. Nothing else really mattered,” she explained.

What have the girls been up to in self-isolation? Shalynn has started doing violin covers, while Shanisse has been binge-watching the hit K-drama Crash Landing On You, and vlogging about her day on Insta-stories.

“I’ve still been studying and revising my uni stuff, even though school has closed,” she revealed.

#NerdAlert? 

“No, no! You don’t understand! (Laughs) I haven’t been to school for a year, ‘cos I took a gap year last year. So I’ve been sooo excited to actually start learning! (Laughs) And to be honest, my course is really fun!” said the dentistry student. 

Both did not expect to return to Singapore so soon. According to them, everything was normal in Boston and Australia just a week ago, with everyone going about with their daily routines.

Shanisse had even taken a trip out to Portland over the weekend before she left, and told us that “everything was still functioning” as per normal, with people going to work and restaurants still open.

But all that changed when US President Donald Trump declared a national emergency over the coronavirus that weekend. 

“When we came back from Portland, nothing was open for business,” Shanisse recounted. “Starbucks and McDonald’s were closed and suddenly, the whole town became deserted. Even Uber drivers stopped picking up passengers so it was hard to get around. The supermarket was also empty. It’s worse than the hoarding here. It was quite hard for us to get food, and we survived the last two days in Boston on instant noodles. I’m so lucky to be home. If I had gotten the virus there, I think it would be very hard to access healthcare. That was when I realised that I needed to take the next available flight out."

It all happened so quickly that Shanisse tells us that some of her friends did not manage to notify the hospital of their departure. Even their Airbnb host didn’t know that they’ve left. On her flight, Shanisse observed that everyone was in full anti-Covid-19 gear. “I did wear a mask on the plane, but I felt slightly under prepared ‘cos so many other passengers were in full protective gowns and in hair caps!” she said.

On the other hand, Shalynn was initially troubled over the decision to return to Singapore, as she would have to be quarantined for two weeks in Australia if she chooses to head back Down Under. 

“I would be missing out on my clinicals and they’re very strict about it, and I don’t want to miss any lessons,” Shalynn quipped. 

But when university announced that the school might possibly close (it is now) and that lectures would go online, she panicked and immediately called her parents. 

“It was madness. I had to change my flight booking six times. At first, I was worried about the curriculum as the school didn’t give us any update. We didn’t know what was happening so we thought we should push back our flight to Sunday, which will hopefully give the school some time to make an official announcement. 

"But my dad was very insistent that I came home as soon as possible and I agree with him, so I rescheduled my flight at around 11.50pm  last Wednesday night and flew out at around 8am the next morning. I literally had to throw all my clothes and essentials into my luggage!” Shalynn revealed.

But unlike Shanisse, Shalynn fortunately had enough food to go around as she had just gone on a supermarket run a few days before. According to her, the supermarket was “well stocked” until the last week she was there. 

“The first to go was toilet paper. Actually, any type of tissue paper. The next to go was rice, pasta and bread. It was really quite insane. I wanted to make some green curry ‘cos I was craving it but there wasn’t any more rice available to go with it,” she laughs.

Eventually, Shalynn decided to cook up a feast for herself and her friends using the rest of the fish and meat she had bought. 

“I didn’t avoid my housemates lah, even though two of them are from China and one was from Wuhan. They came way before this virus broke out so I guess it’s fine,” Shalynn mused. 

Photos: Shalynn Tsai/Shanisse Tsai/Chen Xiuhuan/Instagram