SINGAPORE At around 4 p.m. on March 26, a Thursday, I got a text message from the yoga studio where I moonlight as a part-time instructor. A student whod been in one of my classes a week earlier had tested positive for the coronavirus. Be prepared to be quarantined, the studio boss warned me.

Oh, he added, the Ministry of Health will be contacting you soon.

He wasnt kidding. Within the hour, a ministry representative conducting contact tracing for coronavirus cases called my cellphone. After I told her about some shortness of breath Id experienced in the prior two days, an ambulance was immediately dispatched to my home and I was whisked to the National Center for Infectious Diseases to be tested for the virus known as COVID-19. By 8:30 p.m., my chest had been X-rayed, nose swabs to test for the coronavirus administered and a brief examination by an emergency room doctor completed.

The doctor told me my X-ray showed no sign of pneumonia and, as I had no other symptoms of the virus and was asthmatic but had no other chronic conditions, she said she thought I may have had an asthma attack, triggered possibly by stress, rather than been stricken with COVID-19. Still, she instructed me to return home to self-quarantine in my room and to await my test results.

I got home around 9 p.m. five hours after Id first learned of potential exposure to the coronavirus. Within 36 hours, I got my test results in a text message: Negative.