Vietnam may lift lockdown; U.S. immigration ban impact

Vietnamese officials are meeting today (Wednesday, April 22) to decide when and how to reopen the economy. It appears the lockdown extension could be lifted  a week early -- sometime next week. Vietnam will have gone more than three weeks with everything but supermarkets shut down. There have been only 268 cases reported here, with no fatalities. A former student of mine noted that Vietnam is a young country -- 60 percent of its 97 million citizens are 30 years old or younger. Coronovirus hits everyone, of course, but seems especially devastating to people 65 and older. Police are reportedly tracking down every suspected case and those with symptoms are immediately taken to a hospital for evaluation. I have no idea how officials conduct testing for the virus, but I'm pleased to say the situation appears under control at the moment. It's a good thing. It's very unlikely hospitals here could handle a huge influx of coronavirus patients. None of the countries with extremely large outbreaks are able to cope, and these are countries with considerably more resources and wealth than Vietnam ... for example, the United States. Schools will re-open here sometime early May, likely May 4, which means students will have had an unexpected three months off due to the pandemic. Vietnamese officials, unlike some world leaders, took the coronavirus outbreak seriously from the start, closing borders and schools, closely monitoring airport traffic, and investigating all suspected cases. Perhaps the hot weather has been helpful, although Singapore is currently struggling with an influx and it's closer to the equator than Vietnam. We're located 12 degrees N latitude while Singapore is practically on the equator.

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U.S. President Trump's decision to halt all immigration to the U.S., the country which has by far the most coronavirus cases (819,175) and Covid-19-related deaths (45,343) in the world, will at best slow any hopes my family had of coming to the U.S. and at worst end those hopes altogether. Closing the borders to immigrants now seems unnecessarily reactive. That train left the station but President Trump has blamed the WHO, U.S. governors, overly cautious doctors, U.S. states, China, Obama, social distancing and stay at home guidelines and now immigrants for the United States' problems. Don't forget that immigrants are on the front lines in the battle with coronavirus, accounting for 17% of healthcare workers and 24% of direct care workers in the U.S., an official with the National Immigration Forum told the Guardian newspaper. It also looks like I won't get any stimulus money since I'm married to a Vietnamese citizen, although I'm not 100 percent sure about that. I am 100 percent sure I haven't gotten any stimulus money yet, but it would take more than $1,000 or so to stimulate my 65-year-old economy. Xenophobia is a powerful force in the world today, and tragically seems to be gaining momentum. Maybe I'm watching too much CNN. Or not enough.

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My mornings now include the grim routine of checking the website worldometers.info to see how many people have contracted and succumbed to coronavirus. We live in times that I thought only possible in the science fiction books I read. On a positive note along that vein: I've read 136 days in a row according to the Kindle downloaded on my iPhone; I haven't smoked in four years and one month; and haven't had a drink in four months and three weeks. Even an addictive, narcissistic and obsessive-compulsive personality can produce a few positive results if channeled in a proper direction.

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Medical care is a little bit of a concern for me since I can't really travel to the U.S. even though I have Medicare. I absolutely must have a specific type of prescription eye drops, so I'm on a mission to find them here. We've got a couple of leads; I'm cautiously optimistic. I refuse to go to a doctor here for my sciatica or back pain, so I'm playing holistic roulette on the internet hoping for results. I made progress with acupuncture but coronavirus halted that option. Now I'm soaking in warm salt water and doing yoga before bedtime, and the results have been promising. I can walk in the mornings and the pain is minimal. In light of coronavirus, I really shouldn't be overly concerned with these types of issues, but I want to continue to be an active part of my family's life.