Todd Sandel's Blog from Macau

Here in Macau we are safe and well. There is no community-based transmission of covid-19! The government has a clear and effective strategy for keeping us safe, even catching the attention of some international media . But each day there are reports of recent returnees who test positive for covid-19. All who return must first go into quarantine for 14 days. Now there are a total of 11 hotels set up to receive those in quarantine, providing more than 2,500 rooms. These "accommodations" are free for Macau residents. Those without Macau ID--mainly non-resident workers--have to pay 5,600 MOP (about 700 USD). But since 19 March such persons can no longer enter Macau. Nor can we leave Macau, as the ferries have been shut down, the airport has only one or two flights per day to cities in China, and the only link to Hong Kong is the HK-Macao-Zhuhai bridge. The bridge is limited to Hong Kong residents, and Macau residents. But Macau residents cannot use the bridge for transit th...

A week ago, things were looking up. We had not had a new case of covid-19 for 39 consecutive days, there was a plan to resume classes, people were out shopping, visiting scenic places, and feeling "normal." Life within the small bubble that is Macau was looking pretty good. But then, the world began to come back. On Friday the 13th, it was reported that a group of students fled Portugal and returned to Macau. Then a few days later it was reported that  another person returning from Portugal tested positive for covid-19. This was followed by news of more cases, including a student returning from the UK , a Filipina worker , and an Indonesian woman . The government responded by postponing the resumption of classes and closing the border to non-residents . Hopes for a return to "normal" were dashed, with no end date in sight. While these events are disappointing and disheartening to us in Macau, reports of what is happening in the rest of the world (outside of...

Lessons from Macau The Other Side (Hopefully) of COVID-19 This is the week COVID-19 b ecame real to people in America . These past months images of people wearing masks, streets empty of people, hospitals overcrowded--they have all been in "foreign" countries. Some Americans (not all) believed (falsely) that a wall could keep all this away. But alas, this did not work. Viruses observe no borders, nationalities, ages, incomes, genders, or political preferences. The only way to slow the virus is to follow the guidance of health experts: observe good personal hygiene, social distance, and most importantly, test to find out who may have the virus. Here in Macau the virus became very real to us on February 4. Only a few days before then I returned here from a short Chinese New Year visit to Taiwan to visit family there. While there we were being observant of the situation, watching the news of what was happening in mainland China, and stocking up on masks. It started to f...

We are now entering our second month since COVID-19 began to impact us here in Macau. After the Christmas holiday, we resumed classes the beginning of January and then had two weeks of instruction before a two-week recess for Chinese New Year. It was in the latter part of January when we began to hear about this Coronavirus in Wuhan. Then, the last week of January we as a family went to Taiwan for CNY, the first time we've been in Taiwan for CNY since 2008. We had a wonderful time visiting family there, and enjoying my brother-in-law's new home in Changhua. But we were also following news of an increasing number of cases of the virus. Masks were hard to find, but then Donna's sister told us of a factory in their hometown that makes masks. We went there and bought a supply just in time. The day after we bought ours, the Taiwan government announced that all manufacturers were to send their supply of masks for the government for a centralized distribution. The University ...