Pinksen, an artist from the small town of Wild Cove, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada,, has been painting and drawing portraits for the last five years. She painted this portrait of a security guard at a local bank. (Photo: Sabrina Pinksen) Hanoi (VNA) – Canadian-based CBC News hasrecently published a story about Sabrina Pinksen, a woman from the small townof Wild Cove, Newfoundland and Labrador (NL), Canada, who finds her experienceliving in Vietnam on the outset of COVID-19 unforgettable.
Pinksen lived in the Republic of Korea before, at the endof 2017, moving to Hanoi in a country of 90 million that she said isgeographically smaller than NL.
Despite the vast difference in population, both ofPinksen's homes have one thing in common: their low infection rates, CBC Newsreported.
Even with Hanoi's high population density, said Pinksen,Vietnam has largely been able to keep its COVID-19 numbers low by focusing oncommunity transmission and contact tracing. She credited Vietnam's low COVID-19caseload to its swift response.
Vietnam closed the border with China almost immediatelyat the start of the pandemic, Pinksen said, noting that the country alsoimposed nationwide social distancing order for three weeks in April.
She said the country has been extremely proactive in itshandling of the pandemic. When it comes to daily life in Hanoi, Pinksen said,it's like COVID-19 doesn't exist.
A second wave struck in July, in the central city of DaNang and Pinksen happened to be there on vacation.
"I think there were 50,000 people [from Hanoi] thatwere in Da Nang during that outbreak, and everyone that came back to Hanoi…,they had us tested in a matter of a couple of weeks," she said.
When the pandemic struck, Pinksen recalls feeling uneasy."It was scary being a foreigner in a country that's not your own and notreally knowing what is going on," she said.
Pinksen initially tried to get back to NL, but her plansdidn't pan out. As her passport was at Immigration waiting for a visaextension, she couldn’t get on a plane. So she accepted to not go anywhere.
The pandemic has had a positive effect on her work life. Pinksenis employed as an online ESL teacher for a company. Since people are spendingmore time at home, her skills are more in demand.
Pinksen said she had hoped to be home for the holidays,but that's not going to happen this year.
"I'd like to return in the spring. But … if thesituation is the same in the rest of Canada, I don't know why I would trade inthe freedom that I have right now to come home," she said. /.
VNA
