Vietnamese influencer praised for optimism during COVID-19 quarantine

Chau Bui, who has nearly three million followers on Instagram and Facebook, is waiting to be released from a quarantine facility in two days if she tests negative for the novel coronavirus.

The 23-year-old influencer, whose real name is Bui Thai Bao Chau, is a famous fashionista on Vietnamese social media.

In 2019, she was named in Forbes Vietnam’s ‘30 Under 30,’ a list featuring 30 Vietnamese individuals who stand out in their respective industries.

She has been kept under quarantine at a facility that is 40 kilometers from the center of Ho Chi Minh City since March 5, after returning from Paris, where she attended the Paris Fashion Week.

Earlier, the fashionista was also in Milan, located in Lombardy, the epicenter of the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy, for the Milan Fashion Week.

‘Not-so-cary’ quarantine camps

In a new video blog, or vlog, posted Friday on her YouTube channel with nearly 500,000 subscribers, Chau Bui showed viewers how her quarantine journey had been.

“I was just informed that I’m going to be under quarantine,” Chau said at the beginning of the clip.

At first, the quarantine was obviously not something pleasant to her.

“I was crying so much that my eyes got swollen,” she described how she received the news.

However, it did not take long for the young woman to be back on her feet, as she quickly made friends with people on the van carrying them to the quarantine locality.

It was seven hours between her arrival in Vietnam and the first nap she had at the quarantine zone, as she and others had to get sanitized and their body temperature taken before they were led to their isolation rooms.

“I’m exhausted, I didn’t sleep last night and haven’t eaten anything for nearly a day,” she said in a clip filmed at the end of her first day at the facility.

In the next part of the vlog, Chau let viewers see how she embraced her new life at the quarantine zone.

Chau Bui enjoyed the daily meals she received at the place, worked online and took advantage of the quarantine time to take a much-needed break from her busy working schedule as well as maintaining a daily workout and meditation routine.

“Normally, I only have one hour per day for workouts. Now I have the whole day for it,” she said.

Chau Bui also cherished the freedom of not having to put on makeup for two weeks straight, as her skin had got ‘tired’ after weeks of constant makeup for her appearances at the foreign fashion shows.

Besides, she also maintained a positive outlook on the facility’s inadequacies in living conditions, including a bathroom without a shower and a lack of washing machines.

“I’ve learned to use my positive thinking and applied basic life skills to adapt to the environment here,” Chau told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper from the quarantine zone.

“It’s completely different from where I live. It challenges everyone’s bravery and ability to overcome difficulties.

“If we compared this place to our own home and had negative thoughts, things would be very tough and our government would have to face a lot of pressure in epidemic prevention.”

The woman insisted that she does not mind washing her clothes by hand. In contrast, it brings her joy by invoking her childhood memories.

“Outside, I have to go buy foods by myself. In here, I have three meals a day delivered by the soldiers. I admire them very much, and I feel warm,” she said.

“I’ve been treated very kindly, so why do I have to complain?”

‘I laugh a lot’

Besides the video, she has kept her fans updated through her daily ‘diary’ shared in Instagram ‘stories.’

Through the stories, Chau’s fans know what she eats for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day, how often she works out, how she is treated by her fellow quarantined friends, and how nice the staff at the quarantine facility are.

“It was a Sunday morning when I woke up at 6:00 am and received a cup of ca phe sua da [Vietnamese iced coffee with sweetened condescended milk] from a young soldier,” Chau wrote in a Sunday Instagram post with images reviewing her quarantine time.

“I’ve realized that it has been a very long time since I laughed so much,” she added.

“Every morning you wake up and see those lovely people around, there’s no way to feel unhappy.”

In her ‘quarantine diary,’ Chau said she has received snacks and foods from her roommate and other people who are also under quarantine like her.

“Everyone is truly lovely and takes care of each other,” Chau wrote.

During her 14-day quarantine, Chau Bui has been able to make friends, had nine-hour sleeps that are rare for a busy person like her, and received flowers from the medical staff on the International Women’s Day (March 8).

“We might have different lives outside, but here, we are all ‘soldiers’ who wear blue face masks and always maintain positive energy during the 14-day journey,” Chau wrote.

Chau’s optimism has received huge support from her fans who flocked to her social media accounts to deliver messages of love and admiration for her positive thinking.

Many people praised her as a celebrity who has been a good role model about obeying regulations during the epidemic.

The novel coronavirus, which first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019, has infected over 182,400 people and killed more than 7,000 globally, according to Ministry of Health statistics.

Vietnam has so far confirmed 61 cases of coronavirus infections, with 16 having fully recovered and been discharged from the hospital.

Forty-five cases have been reported in the Southeast Asian country since March 6 after Vietnam had gone three weeks without any new infection.

Vietnam requires compulsory 14-day quarantine for people returning from areas hit by COVID-19.

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