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What has the Covid-19 Pandemic TAUGHT me?

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Tram Nguyen
Tram Nguyen

Having gone through this Covid-19 Crisis has taught me precious lessons that I will embrace for the rest of my life.

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1 WHAT HAS THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC TAUGHT ME? Not only has it dramatically changed our world, but the COVID-19 pandemic has also given us some pause to think of what we, human beings, have been doing until the outbreak, and what lessons have we learnt from it. Personally, this global catastrophe has brought to light another version of mine that I have never thought to have existed before the crisis. It helps me uncover my hidden corners, face them, and get over them. It shows how my life has transformed as well as how my way of thinking and acts have fluctuated since the rise of the disease. In parallel with the catastrophic effects caused by the epidemic, valuable lessons were drawn from this unfortunate experience. 1. BE PREPARED In the Vietnamese context, the wisest decision that the Vietnamese government has ever made during the Covid-19 outbreak is “being prepared”, I believe. By early January 2020, before any cases had been confirmed, Vietnam's government took "drastic action" to prepare for this new pneumonia (https://vietnamnews.vn/society/571291/deputy-pm- orders-ministries-to-prevent-acute-pneumonia-spread-into-viet-nam.html) which had at that point been mysterious with just two deaths reported in Wuhan. And on 23 January 2020 when the very first infected case ever in Vietnam was announced – a man visiting his son in Ho Chi Minh City who had travelled from Wuhan, the government forthwith declared a state of emergency, followed by a series of actions and measures to cope with the unknown disease. "It very, very quickly acted in ways which seemed to be quite extreme at the time but were subsequently shown to be rather sensible," says Prof Guy Thwaites, director of Oxford University Clinical Research Unit (OUCRU) in Ho Chi Minh City, which works with the government on its infectious disease programmes. In preparation for the war against the virus, a variety of protective measures was enacted by the State, including imposing travel restrictions, closing the border with China and enhancing medical checks at borders and other places vulnerable to the virus. Also, a vast and labour intensive contact tracing operation has started to promptly spot any suspected cases. Since mid-March 2020, Vietnam has started imposing mandatory quarantine on anyone who entered the country - and anyone within the country who'd had contact with a confirmed case. Such quarantine period would last 14 days, and any person with suspectedsyndromes would be sent to quarantine centres and closely monitored by the medical staff and the officers in charge thereat. All of the people kept in quarantine would be tested and if anyone was testedpositive with the virus, he/she would be immediately isolated and hospitalized for proper treatment.
2 It can be seen that our government has constantly been highly active during the Covid-19 crisis in preparing plans for preventing the virus from spreading, treating infected people, isolating suspected cases, and more importantly, recovering from the economic downturn once the pandemic has been under good control. As the fact reveals, our careful preparation at the very outset of this outbreak has effectively protected us and helped speed up our socio-economic recovery. 2. BE FRIGHTENED: Besides thorough preparation, one of the principal reasons behind Vietnam’s effective control over the current situation is that the Vietnamese people were too frightened of the virus to act differently from what our government had told us to do. Back in early January this year, most of us had equipped ourselves with face masks and hand sanitizers long before the government made mandatory such self-protective measures with fines imposed on any lawbreaker. We were then considered over-reacting to the infectious disease which was then deemed similar to other non-deadly infectious syndromes by the rest of the world. On the government’s part, the fear that our small country with limited resources could leave us in critical conditions should we fail to avoid the virus spreading has hurriedly pushed them to concentrate on early prevention on a massive scale rather than fighting the virus face-to-face. What is more? Our success in keeping the pandemic under control has been greatly contributed by our people’s ability to spot any suspected cases from their neighbouring areas. To put it simply, according to news reports, some people had lied about their medical history and conditions when making compulsory medical declarations as required by laws to avoid being quarantined. Their fraud was truly a threat to the community in such vulnerable time because any of those people were likely to unknowingly spread the virus to others. Such events helped us develop a new habit which was paying more attention to our neighbours than before so that we could immediately report any unusual acts or symptoms of our neighbours to the concerned authority for their prompt treatment. Once any suspected case was found in any particular area, the entire surrounding area would forthwith be kept in strict quarantine as ordered by the local authority for further examination, and most importantly, for minimizing the risk of nationwide spreading. Truly, the growing fear of getting the virus of our people has worked well in this scenario. One used to tell me that “Being frightened helps you survive!”, and Vietnam’s current reactions to the SARS- CoV-2 virus have proven him right. 3. BE CAUTIOUS: Having been haunted by the fear of being infected since the start of the disease,we have been staying alert and highly cautious about what has been happening around the world in general and in Vietnam in particular. We have been following the news on TV every day and night to be updated of the virus’s latest developments both in our country and across the globe and the number of infected cases and
3 reported deaths as well so that we could promptly act. We had tried our best to procure adequate face masks and hand sanitizers for our whole families at all cost and never gone out without them before the government took any actions to control the crisis. Schools closed, international flights stopped, theatres, bars, pubs and other recreational areas shut, sports and entertainment events cancelled and lockdowns mandated by the Vietnamese government in March 2020 when the coronavirus was raging all over the world showed how much vigilant we remained. While many other countries were still observing what the virus would lead to at the time to proceed with further actions, Vietnam had acted much more prudently long before the rest of the world did with strict but efficient preventive measures. Such cautiousness, which has remained high and sensible thus far, has undeniably helped Vietnam, a small developing country, hold back the virus and stay safe even when the Vietnamese government has re-opened its borders and resumed its trading activities. In a nutshell, apart from disastrous consequences, the Covid-19 pandemic has as well taught me such precious lessons that I will embrace and apply to the rest of my life: Wherever I am and whatever I do, “be prepared, “be frightened” and “be cautious” so that I could survive any circumstances to be able to retell what I have gone through.

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What has the Covid-19 Pandemic TAUGHT me?

  • 1. 1 WHAT HAS THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC TAUGHT ME? Not only has it dramatically changed our world, but the COVID-19 pandemic has also given us some pause to think of what we, human beings, have been doing until the outbreak, and what lessons have we learnt from it. Personally, this global catastrophe has brought to light another version of mine that I have never thought to have existed before the crisis. It helps me uncover my hidden corners, face them, and get over them. It shows how my life has transformed as well as how my way of thinking and acts have fluctuated since the rise of the disease. In parallel with the catastrophic effects caused by the epidemic, valuable lessons were drawn from this unfortunate experience. 1. BE PREPARED In the Vietnamese context, the wisest decision that the Vietnamese government has ever made during the Covid-19 outbreak is “being prepared”, I believe. By early January 2020, before any cases had been confirmed, Vietnam's government took "drastic action" to prepare for this new pneumonia (https://vietnamnews.vn/society/571291/deputy-pm- orders-ministries-to-prevent-acute-pneumonia-spread-into-viet-nam.html) which had at that point been mysterious with just two deaths reported in Wuhan. And on 23 January 2020 when the very first infected case ever in Vietnam was announced – a man visiting his son in Ho Chi Minh City who had travelled from Wuhan, the government forthwith declared a state of emergency, followed by a series of actions and measures to cope with the unknown disease. "It very, very quickly acted in ways which seemed to be quite extreme at the time but were subsequently shown to be rather sensible," says Prof Guy Thwaites, director of Oxford University Clinical Research Unit (OUCRU) in Ho Chi Minh City, which works with the government on its infectious disease programmes. In preparation for the war against the virus, a variety of protective measures was enacted by the State, including imposing travel restrictions, closing the border with China and enhancing medical checks at borders and other places vulnerable to the virus. Also, a vast and labour intensive contact tracing operation has started to promptly spot any suspected cases. Since mid-March 2020, Vietnam has started imposing mandatory quarantine on anyone who entered the country - and anyone within the country who'd had contact with a confirmed case. Such quarantine period would last 14 days, and any person with suspectedsyndromes would be sent to quarantine centres and closely monitored by the medical staff and the officers in charge thereat. All of the people kept in quarantine would be tested and if anyone was testedpositive with the virus, he/she would be immediately isolated and hospitalized for proper treatment.
  • 2. 2 It can be seen that our government has constantly been highly active during the Covid-19 crisis in preparing plans for preventing the virus from spreading, treating infected people, isolating suspected cases, and more importantly, recovering from the economic downturn once the pandemic has been under good control. As the fact reveals, our careful preparation at the very outset of this outbreak has effectively protected us and helped speed up our socio-economic recovery. 2. BE FRIGHTENED: Besides thorough preparation, one of the principal reasons behind Vietnam’s effective control over the current situation is that the Vietnamese people were too frightened of the virus to act differently from what our government had told us to do. Back in early January this year, most of us had equipped ourselves with face masks and hand sanitizers long before the government made mandatory such self-protective measures with fines imposed on any lawbreaker. We were then considered over-reacting to the infectious disease which was then deemed similar to other non-deadly infectious syndromes by the rest of the world. On the government’s part, the fear that our small country with limited resources could leave us in critical conditions should we fail to avoid the virus spreading has hurriedly pushed them to concentrate on early prevention on a massive scale rather than fighting the virus face-to-face. What is more? Our success in keeping the pandemic under control has been greatly contributed by our people’s ability to spot any suspected cases from their neighbouring areas. To put it simply, according to news reports, some people had lied about their medical history and conditions when making compulsory medical declarations as required by laws to avoid being quarantined. Their fraud was truly a threat to the community in such vulnerable time because any of those people were likely to unknowingly spread the virus to others. Such events helped us develop a new habit which was paying more attention to our neighbours than before so that we could immediately report any unusual acts or symptoms of our neighbours to the concerned authority for their prompt treatment. Once any suspected case was found in any particular area, the entire surrounding area would forthwith be kept in strict quarantine as ordered by the local authority for further examination, and most importantly, for minimizing the risk of nationwide spreading. Truly, the growing fear of getting the virus of our people has worked well in this scenario. One used to tell me that “Being frightened helps you survive!”, and Vietnam’s current reactions to the SARS- CoV-2 virus have proven him right. 3. BE CAUTIOUS: Having been haunted by the fear of being infected since the start of the disease,we have been staying alert and highly cautious about what has been happening around the world in general and in Vietnam in particular. We have been following the news on TV every day and night to be updated of the virus’s latest developments both in our country and across the globe and the number of infected cases and
  • 3. 3 reported deaths as well so that we could promptly act. We had tried our best to procure adequate face masks and hand sanitizers for our whole families at all cost and never gone out without them before the government took any actions to control the crisis. Schools closed, international flights stopped, theatres, bars, pubs and other recreational areas shut, sports and entertainment events cancelled and lockdowns mandated by the Vietnamese government in March 2020 when the coronavirus was raging all over the world showed how much vigilant we remained. While many other countries were still observing what the virus would lead to at the time to proceed with further actions, Vietnam had acted much more prudently long before the rest of the world did with strict but efficient preventive measures. Such cautiousness, which has remained high and sensible thus far, has undeniably helped Vietnam, a small developing country, hold back the virus and stay safe even when the Vietnamese government has re-opened its borders and resumed its trading activities. In a nutshell, apart from disastrous consequences, the Covid-19 pandemic has as well taught me such precious lessons that I will embrace and apply to the rest of my life: Wherever I am and whatever I do, “be prepared, “be frightened” and “be cautious” so that I could survive any circumstances to be able to retell what I have gone through.