We Must Not Let Our Guards Down

Last week, on Dec. 22, the news of a local infection in Taiwan made the rounds in national and international media outlets. According to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), the infection of a Taiwanese woman in her thirties was the first COVID-19 diagnosis to be detected outside a quarantine facility in 253 days.

The fact that a single local transmission was widely reported speaks volumes about the amazing work that Taiwan has done in containing the pandemic, but this news in combination with the reports of a new strain of the virus with a higher infection rate that was detected in the United Kingdom, may understandably make everyone concerned about what the future might hold.

It is important to note that there is no reason to believe that the vaccines, which are already being deployed in the United States and Europe, will not be effective against this new strain, and that while it is true that it is much more contagious, there is still no evidence of a higher fatality rate.

These developments are worrisome to say the least, but if there is something that the people living in Taiwan can rely on when it comes to the handling of this pandemic, is that the Tsai administration has taken the appropriate measures to keep the Taiwanese and foreign residents of this island safe from the virus.

This was once again observed when the information about how the local transmission happened was quickly released to the public. In an effort to get everyone involved, a list of the places visited by case 765 — the EVA Air pilot who caused the local case — when he was possibly still contagious was also released, so that the people that might have been exposed began to self-monitor their health.

Taiwan CECC information on the places case 765 visited.                     Credit: Taiwan CECC

This is what a responsible government looks like, and regardless of how much uncertainty this unfortunate situation might have generated, we must remember that the same authorities and mechanisms that got the virus under control when it first started spreading throughout the world, are still in place in Taiwan.

This episode should also put to rest any ideas about the government not being transparent to protect its image, after all, this is not the first time that the Taiwanese authorities have disclosed information about the possibility of an infection, and there is no reason to think that they would risk anyone’s health by changing their policy.

The health authorities have already conducted a thorough contact tracing investigation and will continue to monitor the people involved in this incident. In addition, the person responsible for this transmission has been appropriately fined NT$300,000 (USD10,687) by the Department of Public Health for refusing to co-operate with the CECC’s requests for detailed information on his movements, thus delaying contact tracing efforts, and fired by EVA airlines. It goes without saying that there is no way to calculate the cost of the risk that the Taiwanese people have been exposed to, but the significant fine should serve as a deterrent for anyone considering imitating this irresponsible behavior.

We must remember that the Taiwanese hospitals remain well equipped in the eventuality of an outbreak, and that its personnel are more than prepared to face the COVID-19 threat. All of these are indicators that if we trust the authorities and continue to follow the protocols in place, we can have peace of mind that we will get through such a situation.

However, it is also important to remember that even when Taiwan has been isolated from the devastating effects of the virus, the battle to contain it is far from over. It takes every one of us to make sure that the Taiwanese economy continues to stay open, that lockdowns remain an unnecessary measure, and that we protect ourselves and everyone around us.

This must also serve as a reminder that beyond the many economic benefits that getting this pandemic under control has given to Taiwan, and beyond the political leverage and publicity that the country has received, the Taiwanese government has above all saved lives, and this is something that everyone living in this beautiful country should be thankful for.

Updated guidelines were released in late November.       Credit: Ministry of Health and Welfare

After so many months of living a seemingly normal life, it is very easy to forget that this pandemic is still raging on in many nations around the world, but this experience has shown that it could take only a couple of bad personal decisions to bring everything down.

At this moment, one could think that when the Taiwanese authorities decided to increase security protocols asking for masks to be worn in places where it was not required before, they had a situation like this mind. This scenario is of course hardly unlikely, but the fact that we now realize that these measures were not excessive is without a doubt a sign that the Taiwanese health authorities know exactly what they are doing.

This incident has already led Taiwan to tighten its regulations for flight crews in an effort to minimize the risk of another airline crew-related infection, and although there were no other transmissions, many parties and outdoor markets have been canceled in an effort to prioritize prevention efforts.

Something that feels very reassuring, is that after living in Taiwan for so long, I have no doubt that everyone will do what they can to make sure that we go back to “normal”, after all, taking control of this situation is in our hands — which we should probably start obsessively washing once again.

As President Tsai Ing-wen wrote in a tweet the day that the new local infection was reported, “we are all in this together”, and it is only together that we will be able to face it, and overcome it.