It’s been enough time to get some perspective. Three observations.
What It Was Like Living in an Authoritarian Country During Covid
We lived in Vietnam during the height of covid. I’ve never experienced anything like it. In-person church services were cancelled–we went to services on Zoom. Then small group meetings were cancelled. Gradually the number of people allowed to meet together was whittled down to two.
The government even drove military vehicles down major streets to remind people who was in charge.
There was mandatory testing. This was for everybody and done a number of times. We had to report to designated locations–though once a self-test was dropped off at our door and picked up a few hours later. Thankfully, we tested negative.
For a while, you were not allowed in a grocery store unless you showed a security guard a phone app proving you had received two vaccinations. Later, the grocery stores were closed altogether. They said the army would feed you with food deliveries to your apartment building. Either we did not understand this process or thought the reach of the army’s feeding program did not quite extend to where we were at the south part of the city, so we found food another way.
At the most restrictive, no one was allowed to leave their apartment (except maybe for doctor visits).
Whatever hardships we endured were nothing compared to what the poorest Vietnamese suffered. Those who came from the rural provinces to the city for jobs lost those jobs…and then could not return home. It was a great to hear of Vietnamese Christians delivering food to those poor people by motorbike. The darkness made for an opportunity for light to shine.
In summary, for better or worse, the severity of Vietnam’s restrictions was justified by the assumption that there was lack of hospital space to accommodate all the numbers who might get sick from covid.
Covid Did Kill People; It Had to Be Taken Seriously
I’ve personally had connection to four people who died from covid. Two were older men who had previous weaknesses in their health. The other two were younger men, younger than me, apparently otherwise healthy. That was sobering. No reasonable person could deny that this disease was real.
I had covid three times, each time was fairly mild (though I think the accumulated effect was to lower my sense of smell a notch or two). During the course of those three bouts with the disease I’ve had two vaccinations and a booster. The vaccinations were necessary to travel in Vietnam, but I probably would have gotten them anyway. They may well have helped me to mitigate the effects of the disease.
I am not a vax denier nor a conspiracy theorist. That being said, I totally respect those who did not want to take the vaccine. In some cases they were treated with brutal unfairness. Some were kicked out of the military for their choice. Our society seems to have come to its senses and made some amends for those overreactions, at least for the military part of it.
Some Politicians Used Covid as An Excuse to Abuse Power
The covid threat was real and there were some necessary actions to take for public health. But as time unfolded we learned more about the disease. It became clear that covid was not as deadly as the bubonic plague or the Spanish flu of 1918. It affected different kinds of people differently. For example, kids seemed to be (thankfully) immune, while the elderly with pre-existing conditions seemed most vulnerable.
As were learned more about it, as more data was accumulated, society should have adjusted its reaction to it. Some people did, but some didn’t. Some I think, did not really want to learn. The blue state governors would say “we trust the science” but doesn’t science require making changes based on new data? The science on covid changed as new information came to light, but they did not change their approach to it. They continued to keep all the restrictions on, full blast.
Blue states, despite new information, kept the schools closed, causing lapses (perhaps permanent) in children’s education. Businesses and restaurants were unnecessarily forced into bankruptcy. What about all the financial misery and depression that this caused?
But conservative state governors took the new data on covid and acted accordingly. Restrictions were reasonably eased with no bad effects.
Why did the blue state governors cling tightly to the restrictions for so long? I can only conclude one thing: they loved power. The covid crisis gave them an opening to control the lives of other people…and control they did. They kept the masks on for too long, the schools closed for too long and forced too many businesses into bankruptcy.
Liberals love to talk about social justice, and sometimes they may even quote a Bible verse or two for legitimacy, maybe verses like Amos 2:7, “They trample on the heads of the poor as upon the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed…” But where is the justice when power is used not for the common good but instead to fulfill wrong and childish desires to control other people’s lives?
Has any of these governors ever said they were sorry? I haven’t heard of any apologies. Maybe they’d do it all over again.