Vietnamese manicurist told me the truth about COVID-19

With all of the theories and science and rumor and data and press and statistics swirling around into one big jumbled heap of confusion, it’s hard to find out what is truth, what is fact and what is fiction when it comes to this big puzzle of COVID-19. But what was amazing were the words of a non-American who wears a mask every day in her native country and, as a manicurist, has in her job for many years as well.

I decided to suck it up and go for a manicure-pedicure yesterday even though I had avoided it since the beginning of the pandemic. In the beginning, when the salons were closed, I had no choice. But once they opened and masking up rules went into effect, I just couldn’t see sitting there for an hour and a half sweating in a mask and trying to pretend like everything was A-OK.

I sat down for my pedicure and wore the mask like a good soldier. For the uninitiated, a good pedicure can take about 45 minutes. Even though there was a panel of plexiglass between me and the technician, I felt uncomfortable pulling down the mask every few minutes to take a nice breath and relieve myself from the sweat rolling down my face.

Finally, counting the minutes until the procedure was done, I announced that I would not be walking over to the manicure table for my scheduled manicure. "I’m so sorry, I can’t stay", I told her. I thought I could sit here with a mask on, but it was just way too hot and uncomfortable. "Don’t worry," she said in her very broken English. "It’s only because of the orders that we do this. Right after election everything’s gonna be good again. Americans only doing this to get Trump out. Americans are very silly. They believe everything on the news.You come back in November everything going to be better."

I asked her about wearing masks in the country that she came from and she said the reason she wears one is not for viruses but because eight out of 10 people in her country travel by motorbike, and the mask is the only way to shield people from the constant dust kicking up. I asked if she was a citizen she said no, but that she is working on it. She said she can’t wait to be a citizen because this is the greatest country in the world.

And she said she can’t wait to vote. Can you guess which side she’ll be on?

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Judi Franco. Any opinions expressed are Judi's own.

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