COVID-19 and Vietnam: Masks Up... the 2nd Wave Has Arrived

COVID, COVID, COVID! 

A brief update on the virus situation here, for my friends and family abroad.

So 2020 sucks big, greasy dolphin butts, as I'm sure you're all aware. I'd planned to try and travel a bit somewhere else early next year, but that's looking increasingly unlikely. America is falling apart at the seams (just horrible to watch, good lord). Russia says they have a vaccine (probably BS). The UK is trying to deal with Brexit AND COVID, and kinda failing at both of them (also not surprised).

Europe is doing pretty good at the moment; still not recovered. New Zealand is setting a good example and is virus-free for the moment, but still had some deaths.

And then there's Vietnam.

I feel extraordinarily lucky to have been caught here, of all places, in these tumultuous times. The government, while not always transparent about news the party feels threatened by, have prioritized public access to knowledge about the pandemic and have achieved something of a miracle: 450 total cases as of July 30th, 2020, and zero deaths. And in a country of 95 million people, sharing a land border with China. That's not just good, that's downright AMAZING.

This is, hands down, exemplary. Every country should take two key lessons from this:

1. It doesn't take a rich country to battle a virus, just swift and decisive action ('Act Now, Act Fast'), attention to science, citizen responsibility, and transparent dissemination of information,

and

2. If you don't want your economy and business growth to come crashing into the red like that astroid that wiped out the dinosaurs, care about your citizens first. The evidence is clear that no economy is safe, let alone able to grow, until the virus is contained.

Of course, we've got a second (third? News reports disagree) wave on our hands now....

Last weekend, a random guy in Da Nang tested positive. Where his infection came from is currently unknown, which is worrying, especially since Vietnam's test and trace program is massive, centralized, and exhaustingly comprehensive. A Government Ministry of Health report says two things:

1. The new strain is more infectious,

and

2. It came from outside the country.

There are now 30 newly confirmed cases in Vietnam as of Thursday morning, all stemming from this one random dude.

Many people are speculating that the virus traveled here via illegal immigration, which has been a problem as people, even Vietnamese (SHAME!), have attempted to avoid the mandatory 14-day quarantine. Chinese nationals entering the country has attracted the most ire - it's easy to blame foreigners - but it's a problem that includes Vietnamese returning home from places like Cambodia, Laos, and China, as well.

In the few days since that first new infection was found, cases have been found in every major area: HCMC, Ha Noi, and even Dak Lak in the central highlands (which is now under quarantine) (link in VNese), as tourists returned to their homes from their vacations in the center. This wave had the unfortunate timing to hit Da Nang just as families were vacationing before going back to school, and so as the city cleared out and shut down (again), 18k returned to HCMC and 21k returned to Ha Noi, according to the Reuters article linked above.

Da Nang is a big tourist destination for both Southerners and Northerners alike, situated as it is in the center of the country on miles and miles of great beaches, and just a skip and a jump away from Hoi An, a UNESCO site and itself a very popular tourist spot.

Before these new infections, Vietnam had gone 100 (!!!) days with no community transmission, due in large part to widespread mask-wearing, a short, sweet, and soft lockdown in April, schools closing early, and swift and decisive action very early in the pandemic.

There is no one here that's not taking this extremely seriously.

Did we get soft in our ability to be smug, watching while the rest of the world struggled? Was it satisfying for certain people - NOT ME - to gloat over some country responses that were, ahem, less than stellar (Yes, it's America, I'm talking about the US, you all know that, it's horrific and probably technically demicide)? Was it nice to go to the homestays, restaurants, cafes, shopping malls, and even the cinema without the fear you could contract a deadly virus and potentially infect people around you without even knowing it, or possibly DIE?

Yes, Yes, and, oh my god, definitely Yes. 

But it's time for Vietnam to put on our Set An Example For The World hats again, and I will happily do as the government asks in order to do my part. It takes every person. It doesn't even take scientific literacy to do your part, just listen to the scientists and do as they recommend. Stopping the virus in its tracks is what eventually provides us the freedom to go about our daily lives in a normal fashion. It's baffling that this is an issue that's become politicized in certain countries when public health should be the least political issue, now and always, given how if you don't have healthy workers, you can't have a functioning economy.

Now we have to start over, and it sucks. However, in this situation, I trust the government's response and planning. They have done a great job, and I feel very safe here overall. 

Meanwhile, I wish the rest of the world well, and may you (ahem, America's leadership) Get Your Act Together and Stop Killing People Through Inaction and Magical Thinking thankyouverymuch; I would like to travel to my home sometime in the next two years, and I also want my friends and family to LIVE.

Stay safe, avoid people, wear a mask... here we go again.

-Ben