The Tet Predicament

A precarious holiday looms

Good morning! As I started writing this, health officials announced Vietnam’s first detected community Omicron cases - three people in Ho Chi Minh City - throwing an even bigger wrench into what I’ll discuss here. If you’d like to become a paid subscriber to read this and other subscriber-only posts, you can do so below for US$5/month or US$50/ year.

I discussed the possible impact of COVID-19 on the upcoming Tet holiday in last week’s free edition, but it warrants a deeper dive.

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The Complexities of Tet

With the appearance of Omicron, everything you’re about to read could very well be outdated by the end of the week, but COVID-19 has already created problems for people hoping to spend Tet with their family.

Local media has been reporting fairly widely on how inconsistent pandemic policies are from province to province. On Monday, the Ministry of Health sent a letter to the government of every city and province requesting them to avoid ‘inappropriate’ policies, but those looking to return to their hometowns face a patchwork of rules.

Here are the requirements of a few locations, according to Tuoi Tre: