Da Nang introduces even tighter lockdown controls

A month ago my global attitude could be considered gleeful or even arrogant as far as the general lack of restrictions that were being faced in this country were concerned. As far as domestic travel and freedom to attend things and move around were concerned we had virtually no lockdown at all. Then the virus was reintroduced into the country, especially where I live, and overnight we had 300 more cases and in a week we went from the only country in the world with zero deaths to having 12.

While most of the country went into some fashion of a lockdown the area that I live in Da Nang, which was previously untouched by the virus (practically) is the epicenter of the new infection and went into a pretty harsh lockdown for 14 days. Those 14 days have passed and another fortnight of lockdown has been announced yesterday, with even harsher lockdown regulations being passed as well.

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Give credit where credit is due: When the officials found out that there had been a re-infection of the country and the area they went very quickly into shutting down things and even isolated certain areas where someone had tested positive. The residents of these areas were not allowed in or out and the police / military went to great lengths to ensure that the residents of these areas were comfortable and had all that they needed including food and even alcohol to keep them happy. Much of this was provided for free to kind of give the feeling as though they "won something" rather than make them feel as though they were prisoners.

These areas remained locked down until everyone could be tested in the community and even once these tests came back negative, they still had to remain in that area until 14 days had passed and they were tested again. Of course this depends entirely on the 14 day thing that we were told ages ago being factual and we all just kind of assume that it is without proof (maybe you have some, i don't!)

Vietnam is an outdoor market society. It is very common for families to make multiple trips to the fresh market multiple times a day in order to prepare the day's meals. Since households particularly among the poor are dealing with limited or no refrigeration, it is impractical to expect any of these homes to "stock up" on a week's worth of groceries like we do in the west.

I saw one of these markets and if there was ever an environment just waiting to spread a virus, this was where it would happen. Hundreds of people packed in touching things before they buy them, and while everyone was wearing masks the political jury is still out on whether or not this actually prevents anything, especially when people are touching the masks a lot or have some ill-fitting one-size-fits-all mask they bought for 5 cents at a pharmacy and have been reusing every day for a week.

After the initial 14 days, the government started issuing the above tickets that allowed each household a certain number of days per week to attend the markets. They also limit the amount of people that are allowed in the market at any time. Of course this ends up being an exercise in futility since the same people that would be crowding inside the market are now lining up outside of it packed together in the same fashion. I'm not going to judge them, at least they are trying.

Also, and this is something I experienced first-hand, they are cracking down on people exercising. Not entirely, but if you are too far away from your home or are trying to leave specific pre-defined quandrants you will be turned away. In extreme situations they were apparently confiscating this bicycles of people who are clearly out for exercise and not for some other real purpose such as going to get food or something else essential.

I exercise on my bike, or at least, I used to. I am not going to push the limits because I am a guest in this country and have no desire to end up on a list that could potentially complicate my ability to obtain a visa here in the future.

This is meant to carry on for another 14 days before they re-evaluate the situation again to see if we an relax the lockdown and let life return to "normal" again. This of course is just my opinion but I already see signs of the people starting to be unwilling to comply much longer. You need to understand that most Vietnamese people live well below what we in the west would consider to be a living wage and their inability to earn any money at all is starting to be felt by many members of the community.

I already see motorbikes traveling around selling food because the sales of these items is the only way that the person driving the bike can make a living and therefore have money to eat or presumably feed other members of their family. The Vietnamese government doesn't have the deep pockets that the west does and can not simply hand out free money to the population to sit at home.

Perhaps this is why they are so extreme with the lockdowns.... the government realizes that come hell or high water, they will be forced to let the population get back to work in 2 more weeks, lest the people decide to do it anyway.