Nagin: Being quarantined was surreal

NEW ORLEANS, June 11 (UPI) -- New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said his five days of quarantine in China with his wife and their security guard was both surreal and dull.

The surreal part was being whisked away from their hotel by men in hazmat suits a few hours after their arrival in Shanghai, Nagin told WDSU-TV in New Orleans in a telephone interview from Sydney. The three were released Wednesday after five days in isolation because they had been exposed to a man infected with H1N1 virus on the flight.

In quarantine, Nagin, his wife and the security guard had their temperatures taken every three hours and watched television in Chinese.

"This was an experience that I wouldn't want to relive but it gives me confidence that I can travel around the world and around the country without worrying about this disease as much," Nagin said.

Nagin said the only unusual thing about the infected man was that he slept during the entire flight. Asked if he expected something like quarantine, Nagin said a lot of things, including Hurricane Katrine, have happened he did not expect.