I was hoping to write a follow up to the Dragon Diaries from last week, and that it would be filled with success stories and the promise of a short and manageable lockdown. Alas, this is not the case. The crisis is deepening as each day dawns and the prospects of a shortened lockdown have faded. Within days of our first community case in months, which was announced 7 days ago, infections have grown at a rate not yet seen in Vietnam. In the original lockdown in early April we would hear daily increases of 3, 2 at the most 5. By August 1st we have reached into the 80’s in new daily cases.
Da Nang is entirely isolated from the rest of Vietnam. Within hours of the first Dragon Diaries post the first patient was announced. Things have just quickly spiraled since. It is with a sad heart that I share the news that Vietnam’s first death came on Thursday July 30th. Within hours number two and by the first of August it was 3. There is hope as the three deaths were all individuals who were dealing with other health issues. One was in late stage congestive heart failure and another was on dalasis and in heavy treatment for leukemia. It still however, gives a sense of failure, and deep concern.
Evacuations Halted
As the second Dragon Diaries was being published evacuations for non Da Nang residents was underway. The airport opened only for evacuees and was running 100 flights a day to 11 other Vietnamese cities. Da Nang is the biggest tourist destination for Vietnamese, some of the best beaches in Asia, and tens of thousands were here on summer vacation. As the numbers quickly rose, and F0 was yet to be identified, the evacuation was suspended within 24 hours of its initial flight. F0 is the Vietnamese medical distinction for the origination patient, who is still, as of August 2nd, unknown.
As the tens of thousands that did depart Da Nang made it to their homes across the country, so too, did the virus. As of today, August 2nd, there are active community transmitted cases in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Vung Tau, Quang Nam Province, as well as Da Nang. The list seems to grow daily.
A More Strict Lockdown
This time around the lockdown is much more severe. With a full lockdown of the country in April, the city boundary was as far as you could travel. This time the districts are in many cases cordoned off. Of the 8 districts of Da Nang, a district is equivalent to neighborhoods or Burroughs in the US like East Atlanta, Ocean Beach or Manhattan, 6 are completely locked down. Including our district, Son Tra. The airport is shut down, as expected., and taxi services, public and long haul buses are also shuttered. The train is still operating between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city, but it is not allowed to stop in Da Nang. In addition the last lockdown allowed non street side restaurants to remain open for delivery only, those have also been forced to close.
Food Shortages
With a tighter lockdown comes supply issues, which are to be expected. There is a small grocery store on the end of our street, as all grocery stores and food suppliers are to remain open, but food has become scarce there. We have discussed delivery times with the workers to manage times where fresh food may be more available. The deliveries are only lasting minutes as customers swarm in and purchase whatever they can.
Panic buying is a bit of a problem, though only on food, there is still plenty of toilet paper on the shelves. I don’t know, but there just seems to be a greater sense of fear and uncertainty in the air. Last time with few cases the lockdown seemed just a necessary tool to weather the storm. With a tighter lockdown in place and cases rising at rates never seen for Covid in Vietnam, the emotions in the air are palatable.
Testing For All
You can tell the government is really trying to figure out this recent outbreak and neutralize it. With cases growing by the minute and F0 still on the loose, Vietnam announced yesterday that it would begin immediately on an unprecedented program. It intends to test the entire population of Da Nang, some 1.1 million residents and visitors, within the next few months. The ambitious nature of the project speaks clearly to the concern held by the government.
In additional news, all of the hospitals holding Covid patients in Da Nang have been locked down. No admissions or discharges allowed. To help alleviate pressure, the local domed football stadium has been converted to a field hospital.
Other Concerns
In addition to the rapid increase in cases, Vietnam’s doctors have announced the new cases appear to be a more virulent strain not previously seen in Vietnam. Much more contagious, and one could argue more deadly. As we had many people that were on ventilators for months in the original outbreak, some of our more recent cases have died within days of diagnoses. And many patients are going on ventilators very quickly.
There is just so much about this particular outbreak that feels very different from the first one. Again, with ramped up testing and strict measures, there is much hope that this round will also come under control soon. Though I think it is clear with Vietnam’s diligence and success in the battle against Covid, and it’s recent resurgence, the entire world is far from finding its pre-Covid self.
Illegal Entry
With no entries of any kind into Vietnam legally without a 14 day quarantine since mid-March, the concern over the origin of the outbreak is intensifying rapidly. The government hasn’t said specifically that it believes illegal entry is to blame, but its recent actions point to that reality. In recent days a total of 1,600 24 hour checkpoints have been established along the borders in addition to standard border crossings, and 146 other roadblocks and checkpoints have been established to detect illegal entries.
The government naturally began ramping up border patrols as the initial lockdown went into effect, and the borders closed in March. In recent days numbers on the scale of the intrusions were released. The military puts the number of people detained from illegally entering Vietnam since the borders closed in March at just over 15,000. And with news announcements of new arrests daily, who knows how many are in Vietnam illegally and who could possibly be infected. The majority of the arrests are Chinese nationals.
Wet Markets
With the grocery store shelves all but empty, Diem and I went to the local wet market this morning. It had plenty for us, but was only a fraction of its usual abundance. Many of the stalls were empty or mostly bare, and only a few were piled with fresh produce and none were piled with meat. Though meat was available, we purchased the top quarter of a pig, head, ears, strips of the belly, but some vendors were sitting in entire stalls trying to sell a single chicken.
Supplies
It was a bit unnerving. The markets are usually bustling with table after table piled with fish, meat, produce, spices and the like. Today it was a shell of itself. We were able to get quite a bit of produce to round out our supplies at home. We have plenty of rice, Diem’s parents sent us home with a 50 pound sack of freshly milled jasmine rice in April, and plenty of noodles, meat in the freezer, and enough to last us for awhile. I do have faith in the government here. They did it once, they’ll be successful again.
The only thing of concern is this puts my return to the US in limbo again. My target for August is obviously now not an option. I am unsure if September will happen either. As once we come off lockdown, it is sure to be at least a month before international flights resume, if not longer.
Lockdown With the Kids
As many of you know in our first lockdown we were alone. Diem had taken the girls to her parents in An Lao. She returned to Da Nang to meet me when I flew back from the US, but we went into lockdown as I arrived and we were separated from the girls. This time however, that is not the case. So I have done my best to keep them entertained and well fed. Spending many days experimenting with whatever I can find at the small grocery store.
It doesn’t exactly have the kind of staples dry good shelves have in the states, so making things like pizza, corn dogs, and other fun American fare has been quite a challenge. Which has helped keep me occupied and sane. The patio has also been helpful in keeping the girls from feeling cooped up and bored. Though there is a tropical storm in the region and it has rained for days now.
One Day at a Time
And so we continue on day by day. We have rearranged the apartment, done some deep cleaning, and just try our best to remain positive. Everyone is healthy and well. We are in no danger or in any real concern. We only venture out for food, which doesn’t really matter as you can’t travel too far before hitting roadblocks. In addition to the districts and city being cordoned off, a few streets are also locked down independently. Any streets known to have had infections are shut off as well.
Our building has emptied out again, as it is mostly a hotel except for our penthouse. The building owners come by daily to check on us, and again our roll down steel door stays mostly closed. It’s Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, drawing, writing, and lots of eating. We got pretty good at being on lockdown last time, hopefully this time won’t be as long.
Update just before publication: Deaths number 4 and 5 were announced Sunday afternoon.
Click Here for the article on the recent deaths
OR Click Here for the previous Dragon Diaries
