In quarantine
25 Dutch people and 2 Belgians are quarantined in Hoi An, Vietnam. After they got off the plane, it turned out that one person on board had the Corona virus. The AD then blindly takes over a message from one of the people taken into quarantine - a 57-year-old woman - and if you have to believe that, tourists are just picked off the street and quarantined.
We are about to leave Danang by taxi to Hoi An and have seen the message, after which the necessary doubts take hold of us. We don't take the AD story too seriously and drive to Hoi An where we are staying now. There is no problem in this charming old harbor town, at least, unlike almost everywhere in the world, caution is advised.
Of course it is also a lot quieter than normal here, but the reign of terror described by the AD is total nonsense. It would be a lot more sensible to better verify a story of a terrified lady.
Quarantining someone is very old and the origin of the word goes back more than six hundred years. Read the following interesting story about this in Taalpost of the Society of Our Language.
It all started in Italy: already around 1400, ships there were kept in isolation in the port for forty days after a long journey, to prevent any contamination. "Forty" is in Italian quaranta and the forty-day isolation period went on quarantines to be named. In French, the concept became like quarantine adopted – the French naturally recognized the number 'forty' (forty in French). Dutch has taken over the French word literally, without translating it as 'forty days'. That term is used for the Lent before Easter, which we are currently in. The fact that Lent and the former Italian isolation period both last forty days will probably not be entirely coincidental…
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Thanks for this perspective, Joseph!
Maybe also nice to know about quarantine.
You can see whether a ship is quarantined or not.
In the past, the flag “Quebec” was hoisted for this. That's a full yellow flag. (see link)
That meant that the ship was placed under Quarantine. Today this means just the opposite. The ship has been declared "healthy".
Today, to indicate whether a ship has been placed under quarantine, the flag “Lima” will be hoisted in the port. (At sea it has a different meaning).
“Lima” flag has two yellow and two black squares. (see link)
So if you see a ship in the harbor with a “Lima” flag in the mast, you know that this ship is under quarantine.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_maritime_signal_flags
After my response to your travel report last Wednesday, I read the story about the quarantine of the lady in question in the AD. That will certainly not happen to Joseph and his girlfriend, who are now traveling around Vietnam, I immediately thought. But at the same time I found it very unbelievable that random tourists in Vietnam would just be 'picked' off the street to be quarantined under appalling conditions. Your submission today shows that you are all well and good, and that is good news. Let me just say that the AD coverage was largely based on sensationalism. And of course I wish you a pleasant continuation of your tour!