Back to Gallery Surviving coronavirus self-quarantine in California:... 4 1 of 4 Photo: Ana Venegas / Special to The Chronicle 2 of 4 Photo: Ana Venegas / Special to the Chronicle 3 of 4 Photo: LeighAnn Rorex 4 of 4 Photo: Courtesy LeighAnn Rorex







When LeighAnn Rorex woke up in her house near Los Angeles over the past two weeks, the only thing she looked forward to was one fewer day of coronavirus quarantine.

From Feb. 14, when she arrived from China and her aunt and uncle met her at Los Angeles International Airport, until Friday, Rorex was confined alone to her four-bedroom Hacienda Heights house, which does have a backyard. Her neighbor put up her roommate down the street, or else Rorex would have been trapped in her bedroom for two weeks.

“I would probably go crazy,” Rorex said on the phone during her last full day of quarantine.

The 36-year-old warehouse worker was one of some 8,700 people who have been under home quarantine in California to watch for coronavirus symptoms, as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for people who recently visited China. There are hundreds in the Bay Area.

Rorex said she might have had it better than others: She had an understanding workplace that let her take unpaid leave, enough money to get by, and support from friends and family who brought her puzzles, ramen and Mexican food, handing off the provisions to her on her driveway without touching her.

“My life was set up in a very good way for me to have this happen to me,” Rorex said. “It didn’t put any serious hardship on me. I’m fortunate.”

But after two weeks inside, struggling to get over jet lag with no routine, “laziness kicks in,” she said. She struggled to find motivation to exercise and didn’t even eat on a schedule, only when she was hungry, which was rare considering her lack of activity, she said. Although a self-described introvert, she missed human touch, spending quality time with people at church, eating a meal together or simply sitting beside another person.

“I’m looking forward to physical contact with people,” she said. “There’s a sense of that lacking in my life.”

The saga started when Rorex, who grew up in Hacienda Heights but lived in China for five years, was visiting her best friend in the southwest province of Yunnan starting in mid-January. After the novel coronavirus erupted in China, her flight home in early February was canceled. She scrambled to find another one, paying more than seven times the original price to finally leave a week later. Worried about whether she could even get to the airport, she called the local government to make sure the road was open as lockdowns hit across the country to contain the virus.

While in China, Rorex developed a cough that stopped two days before she left the country, she said. She informed health officials that she had no other coronavirus symptoms, such as fever, and hasn’t felt sick since then. The CDC said the incubation period for coronavirus symptoms can be up to two weeks.

Disembarking at the Los Angeles airport, Rorex said, she was greeted by a row of medical professionals from the CDC and the Los Angeles Public Health Department who took her contact information and handed her pamphlets advising her to stay home and away from work and crowds for two weeks, take her temperature twice a day, and report if she had symptoms. Rorex did so faithfully. After 12 days at home, she said, she received a call from the county checking on her.

Rorex said her employer was understanding when she reported her circumstance, and let her take unpaid personal leave that expired on the day her quarantine ended.

“I’m very fortunate that I’ve been careful with my money my whole life. It sucks not getting paid, but I’m not worried about where my next meal is coming from. I’m in a good situation, but I’m worried about people who aren’t. It puts people in a financial bind,” she said.

“Not everybody would be in such a good situation,” she added.

Rorex said she had all the food she needed — rice, lentils and a boxed produce delivery waiting for her after her trip. A week later, she got another delivery and her aunt and uncle also dropped off fresh vegetables. Her neighbor brought her ramen noodles, Mexican food and a cookie. Her roommate delivered a puzzle gifted from her aunt and the two talked for hours in the driveway, avoiding going inside the house together.

Her parents and brother called to support her from their home in Florida. When she reported on social media that she was bored, her college roommate whom she hadn’t spoken with in years reached out.

But in the long hours between calls, Rorex was alone — and wondering how to fill the time.

“Thank goodness for the internet,” she said. Without work, she struggled to get back on a regular sleep schedule and overcome the 16-hour time difference from China. Often, she fell asleep at 4 a.m. and got up at 12:30 p.m. Although she showered and dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, she didn’t bother combing her hair.

She spent hours in bed on Instagram, where she documented her journey. She played piano and listened to music. She took to doing jigsaw puzzles, which she said was a compulsive activity that would consume her energy and while away hours. But after she finished three puzzles — two with 1,000 pieces and one with 2,000 pieces — she got tired of that, too.

That’s when she started watching TV — “90 Day Fiancé,” “Survivor,” and Netflix movies. One day, she even turned on Dodgers spring training, something she would never normally do, but “afternoon TV is the worst,” she said.

Rorex has an older iPhone and usually avoids installing new operating systems. One day she was so bored that she tried. Her phone crashed. She spent the rest of the day contacting Apple support and troubleshooting fixes before resetting the phone, which wiped out her contacts after 2015. She ended up emailing her roommate for help.

Rorex couldn’t wait to leave the house Friday morning. Her to-do list included going to the bank to make some payments and picking up a Chick-fil-A iced tea, as well as plenty of time to see friends. She’s also looking forward to finishing planned projects like planting her garden — and some she was made painfully aware of during two weeks at home, like replacing her internet router.

Rorex views the outbreak with sober realism, but not alarmist fear. She said controlling interactions with tens of thousands of infected patients is impossible.

“Saying stuff like it’s going to come here and it’s going to be a thing, I think it’s true. I don’t think there’s much we can do about it,” she said.

“As soon as you show symptoms, go see a doctor,” she added.

Mallory Moench is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mallory.moench@sfchronicle.com Twitter:@mallorymoench