The ridiculous nature of continued lockdowns in Da Nang, Vietnam

We have been in a lockdown in Da Nang for a month now. I realize that a lot of other countries have been locked down for far longer so maybe I should just quit my bitchin'. It really hasn't been that bad and I have saved a ton of money because going out with friends for a "few drinks" that turns into 3am is not something that is available to anyone at the moment. So in that regard it is a blessing of sorts.

It isn't really the lockdown so much as the very bizarre and unequal distribution of these lockdowns that I find so crazy.

We were locked down because a couple of cases appeared in the city over a month ago and they just keep extending and extending the lockdown here. We find out tomorrow whether or not we are going to have another week of this but in the meantime the beaches are closed, all restaurants are take away only, all bars are closed, all gyms are closed, and almost all public places are either closed or have tons of restrictions and officials there that are going to blow whistles at anyone that even marginally violates what seems to be completely arbitrary rules.

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These river walkways for example are very popular and at first they tried to tell people that they could not come here at all. The people, after a few weeks starting simply stepping under the police tape and got their nightly exercise in violation of the law. I would imagine that a few people were arrested but then more and more people starting coming and I guess the authorities had no choice but to let them do so. On the other hand they are strictly enforcing that no one can hang out or even walk under the underpasses for any of the bridges. Some of these are long tunnels that I suppose you could find a scientist out there that would say this is where a virus would proliferate, but others are simply 4 meters long and and the bridge is 10,20, even 30 meters above your head. Yet these to this day are marked off and even staffed full-time by an official of some sort. The people just walk around it into the street.

Also, a popular pathway along the cliffside that leads to the "Lady Buddha" statue has been blocked off at all traffic despite the fact that there really isn't anything over there other than attraction itself, which obviously is already closed. So why not let people get some exercise on their bicycles?

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This is all relatively minor but the major thing that is particularly irritating is that we here in Da Nang city are totally locked down, but a mere 15 km away the city of Hoi An is completely open with almost ZERO restrictions.

So people who want to go out for dinner or go out to party, they are still quite easily able to do so, they just have to get into a taxi, get on the 75 cents public bus, or simply drive themselves in order to do so. There is no checkpoint or restrictions as to who can go there... you just GO and then you can do whatever you want.

Yesterday a friend of mine who lives a few blocks from me in "lockdown land" sent me a video of a beach bar where he and perhaps a hundred other people were partying, drinking, dancing, eating, listening to live music all in full view of any authority that might want to look in on them. This wasn't some small, secret speakeasy, this was in full view and according to my friends, everywhere they went was like this. Everything is fully open but here in Da Nang we can't even go into a restaurant?

If the idea is that lockdowns accomplish something like stop the spread and there are also no restrictions on people of Da Nang traveling to and from the nearby city of Hoi An, then I ask you, what is the damn point of the lockdown here?

I hope we get some good news tomorrow and they are going to let everything open back up. It's been a month for crissakes yet we are barely allowed to do anything here in Da Nang.