COVID-19 Update

Inconvenienced?  No, I don’t feel inconvenienced.  Worried?  No, I don’t feel worried.  Panic?  No, I have no sense of panic.  Amongst all of us, there are some very level-heads.  Let’s use them.

The update over here?  Students still are not in school.  I worked from home last week and will again this week (week 8 of distance learning).  Teaching staff are supposed to be able to return next week, with students the week after that … for now.  As of last Monday, the government decreed masks must be worn in all public places.  Security guards are authorized to not let anyone in a building who is not wearing a mask. 

In the building where I live, there was an individual who had returned from the area in Korea that was hit hard.  The person was in quarantine, in their own home, on the 24^th floor of the building.  The building was sprayed 6 times over the course of two weeks.  The person tested negative for COVID-19 after 2 weeks and is no longer required to stay inside (apparently the police come and check to make sure you are home if you are in quarantine).

A colleague lives next to a building that had a person who tested positive for COVID-19.  The entire building is roped off.  No one goes in.  No one comes out.  Yes, food is delivered. 

A person tested positive who was at a popular ex-pat sports bar.  Police closed the bar down, and went through all the CCTV cameras to identify everyone who was at the bar.  They are all in quarantine.

A colleague returned from Australia over the weekend.  She was not allowed to leave the airport, but was taken to government sponsored quarantine.  She’ll be there for two weeks.  This now happens for everyone, foreigner or Vietnamese, returning to Vietnam on a plane. 

I felt one of the messages from the director of my school summed it up well, trying to calm people about summer plans.  The weddings and anniversaries and celebrations – they won’t be happening.   

What’s more – it’s likely that if one leaves the country, they have to go into quarantine upon return – so plan to get back two weeks before work starts.  It prompted S2 and I to talk about any impending deadlines we have … the best I could come up with was the day our 2020 taxes are due! 

Think of the history we are making – and how each and every one of us have a role to play here.  We can flatten that curve.  We can stop the spread.  We can find the positive side of this – if we try.

Were you or someone you know on any of these flights?  They are looking for you.  Students returning to Vietnam are the source of recent outbreaks.  Yes, that does say Bamboo Airways.