Cimeron Morrissey is known by many Santa Cruz mountain bikers as a tireless rider, and for her infectious (oops, ok to use that word?) laugh. She and her husband John decided 5 years ago to take advantage of an offer from Intel to move to Malaysia. Weekend trips all over Asia have been the envy of their many Facebook friends. Until recently. Malaysians are under lockdown much more strict than Santa Cruz. Intel has only a skeleton crew working in their fab factory. Intel has donated RM2 million to assist health care professionals in Malaysia.

In this article written by Cimeron, we learn about how Malaysians are taking responsible measures to combat the virus.

A Severe, Effective and (Hopefully) Quick Solution

With 2,766 COVID-19 cases, Malaysia has the highest reported caseload in Asia. As a developing country with a stagnant economy and a mountain of debt, the nation lacks the funding and high tech abilities to tackle the pandemic as other more advanced Asian countries have done. So instead, Malaysia has relied on low-tech solutions, which are proving to be effective at stopping the spread of the virus. After two weeks of intense efforts, the curve has been flattening, a decline in cases is within sight, and so is the prospect of returning to (relative) normalcy. 

For those who don’t know much about Malaysia, it’s an equatorial nation of roughly 31 million with a gross national income per capita of $10,460. (In comparison, California has a population of 39 million and gross income per capita of $66,661). Affordable factory labor and tax incentives have made Malaysia an attractive manufacturing hub for multinational high tech companies, such as Intel, HP, Motorola, and National Semiconductor, which is why my husband and I moved from the Bay Area to the urban island of Penang 5 years ago. As expats on longterm assignment who now consider both SE Asia and California home, we’ve witnessed stark differences in the way that our “home territories” are tackling COVID-19, and vastly differing levels of success.  

More prosperous Asian nations are encouraging citizens, universities and companies to expedite innovations to track the outbreak and citizens, find supplies and match them with people in need, and even deliver medical supplies using drones. But Malaysia has taken a low-tech route that’s proving to be effective at flattening the curve: aggressive testing, and a strict lockdown that relies on peoples’ willingness to put the good of all citizens above their own temporary discomforts. 

On March 15, Malaysia experienced a sudden spike of COVID-19 cases resulting from a large religious gathering of 16,000 people who dispersed throughout the country after the event. Two days later, the government announced a Movement Control Order (MCO) that’s scheduled to last 4 weeks. The rules are simple and severe: People may not leave their homes, except for groceries or medication – and only one person may go; no outdoor exercise or group gatherings of any kind; non-essential businesses are closed; no travel between Malaysian states (or in our case, on or off the island); no one is allowed into the country during the MCO; all who arrive in country after the MCO will face mandatory 14 day quarantine in a government facility. 

On the day Malaysia’s MCO began, every grocery store and pharmacy enacted safety protocols. Each person entering a store is required to sanitize their hands and have their temperatures checked, with all patrons in line spaced 6 feet apart. Luckily, the wait is usually under a minute to get into a shop. Without being asked to do so, every person who ventures out for supplies dons a face mask to protect others, just in case they happen to have the virus but are asymptomatic. No one is hoarding supplies and shelves are fully stocked - even with toilet paper. Essential service companies operating skeleton crews must report any employee with an elevated temperature, and ensure that their suppliers follow all the MCO orders. 

The result has been dramatic. Since the MCO and intensive testing began, new daily COVID cases have held steady, averaging about 150 per day, which Malaysia’s hospitals can easily manage. At the time of writing, the total cases for the country stands at 2,766, with 43 deaths. In contrast, California, which severely lagged on testing and enacted piecemeal and less severe Shelter In Place orders, has 8,588 cases and 183 deaths. If analyst projections are correct, Malaysia’s number of new cases should begin to drop within a couple of weeks.   

It’s frustrating being cooped up inside. We’re forbidden from even taking a walk outdoors, which is driving me crazy – I envy our friends in the Bay Area who are mountain biking, kiting, surfing and hiking. However I’m grateful that our elderly and immunocompromised neighbors here in Malaysia face very little risk of catching the virus or dying from it. Malaysian healthcare workers have plenty of personal protective equipment, and COVID patients are getting excellent care since the caseload is manageable. The same cannot be said for the U.S., where we worry for the safety of our friends with asthma, diabetes and other underlying conditions, our relatives in their 70s and 80s, and our friends in healthcare who don’t even have N95 masks to protect themselves.  

Being a proud California girl, it’s strange to admit that I feel far safer in Malaysia – a developing country with more than its fair share of challenges – than my friends and family do in the Bay Area.  And it’s even stranger to see that such simple low-tech solutions are saving Malaysia from the fate that the U.S. is suffering from the devastation of COVID. My heart is in both places, and so is my wish for us all to be safe from COVID as soon as possible.