Vanuatu

I pass by this sign all the time.  It indicates there is an 'island' in the middle of the road where pedestrians may cross more safely and easily. I took this photo two years ago, when Covid was in full-swing nearly everywhere else in the world, save Vanuatu and a few other places.  It made me think that we on Vanuatu are on a Refuge Island, protected from Covid-19. That ended about a month ago, as we all knew it inevitably would.  Up until the last month, my experience with Covid-19, like that of most of the people here, has been from reading about it on the Internet, or talking to people in other countries.  We've experienced it like we experience watching a movie.  There's no right or wrong to it, we've just experienced Covid-19 through communication, until now. And yesterday (08-Apr-2022), the government announced that the borders are opening back up for tourists on July 1.  Refuge no more. Masks are mandatory now, whenever you go outside.  I don't like wear

Covid-19 arrives in Vanuatu, almost exactly 2 years after it first appeared in the rest of the world   On March 4, the first case of Covid-19 was found in Vanuatu.  Yes, there were cases found here in quarantine before, so no big deal.  But this meant Covid-19 was now here, out in the wild, and inevitably, would spread.  The government quickly established a curfew from 6pm to 6am, where nobody was to be out. A curfew has an immediate chilling and dampening effect.  Although people were free to go out between 6am and 6pm, Port Vila was a ghost town. Even though we knew it would happen one day, the reality of Covid-19 still scared people.  And how it escaped here at all is a controversial topic.  Supposedly, eyewitnesses at a quarantine facility told of a high-ranking government official who used his position to sneak out to go visit his friends and maybe girlfriend too.  The Opposition Leader filed a complaint.  Seems that everyone lost their memories all of a sudden, no charges filed,