By early 2021, the COVID-19 numbers appeared to be receding and stabilizing. By mid-2022, governments began easing up on the severe COVID-19 restrictions including opening their countries to visitors. The World Health Organization (WHO), however, advised that countries can loosen restrictions and lift lockdowns only “if they have high immunity rates, their health care systems are strong and the epidemiological trends are going in the right direction” (Keaten 2022). This essay provides new and updated data that magnifies the sorry state of Southeast Asia’s economic, social, and political fabric, and the perils that remain in a post-pandemic era, and reiterates longstanding policy recommendations to address such issues.