1. Distrust China and the WHO's recommendations; capture data, act on information early
2. Be open and transparent
3.
Why Coronavirus Cases Have Spiked
in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan
The New York Times, April 9th, 2020
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/09/world/asia/coronavirus-hong-kong-singapore-taiwan.html
Taiwan can help us
https://taiwancanhelp.us/
Response to COVID-19 in Taiwan: Big Data Analytics, New Technology, and Proactive Testing
Author: Wang, C. Jason; Ng, Chun Y.
Publication: JAMA
Publisher: American Medical Association
Date: Apr 14, 2020
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2762689
'Taiwan is 81 miles off the coast of mainland China and was expected to have the second highest number of cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) due to its proximity to and number of flights between China.1 The country has 23 million citizens of which 850 000 reside in and 404 000 work in China.2,3 In 2019, 2.71 million visitors from the mainland traveled to Taiwan.4 As such, Taiwan has been on constant alert and ready to act on epidemics arising from China ever since the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic in 2003. Given the continual spread of COVID-19 around the world, understanding the action items that were implemented quickly in Taiwan and assessing the effectiveness of these actions in preventing a large-scale epidemic may be instructive for other countries.
(...)
On December 31, 2019, when the World Health Organization was notified of pneumonia of unknown cause in Wuhan, China, Taiwanese officials began to board planes and assess passengers on direct flights from Wuhan for fever and pneumonia symptoms before passengers could deplane. As early as January 5, 2020, notification was expanded to include any individual who had traveled to Wuhan in the past 14 days and had a fever or symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection at the point of entry; suspected cases were screened for 26 viruses including SARS and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). Passengers displaying symptoms of fever and coughing were quarantined at home and assessed whether medical attention at a hospital was necessary. On January 20, while sporadic cases were reported from China, the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (CDC) officially activated the CECC for severe special infectious pneumonia under NHCC, with the minister of health and welfare as the designated commander. The CECC coordinated efforts by various ministries, including the ministries of transportation, economics, labor, and education and the Environmental Protection Administration, among others, in a comprehensive effort to counteract the emerging public health crisis.
(...)
For the past 5 weeks (January 20-February 24), the CECC has rapidly produced and implemented a list of at least 124 action items (eTable in the Supplement) including border control from the air and sea, case identification (using new data and technology), quarantine of suspicious cases, proactive case finding, resource allocation (assessing and managing capacity), reassurance and education of the public while fighting misinformation, negotiation with other countries and regions, formulation of policies toward schools and childcare, and relief to businesses.
(...)
Conclusions
Taiwan’s government learned from its 2003 SARS experience and established a public health response mechanism for enabling rapid actions for the next crisis. Well-trained and experienced teams of officials were quick to recognize the crisis and activated emergency management structures to address the emerging outbreak.
In a crisis, governments often make difficult decisions under uncertainty and time constraints. These decisions must be both culturally appropriate and sensitive to the population. Through early recognition of the crisis, daily briefings to the public, and simple health messaging, the government was able to reassure the public by delivering timely, accurate, and transparent information regarding the evolving epidemic. Taiwan is an example of how a society can respond quickly to a crisis and protect the interests of its citizens.'
How has Taiwan kept its coronavirus infection rate so low?
April 9th, 2020
https://p.dw.com/p/3ZE3X
'Taiwan's number of COVID-19 infections is currently below 400, despite the island's proximity to the outbreak's origin on mainland China. Experts say early intervention has helped stop a public health crisis.
More than two months after a new virulent coronavirus emerged from the Chinese city of Wuhan, more than 1.4 million people in dozens of countries around the world have been infected.
The COVID-19 infection, however, has largely spared Taiwan, despite the island's relative proximity to the virus's origin.
When the outbreak first started in January, some experts predicted that Taiwan would have the highest number of cases outside of mainland China.
However, while mainland China has had over 80,000 COVID-19 cases to date, Taiwan has kept its number of confirmed cases below 400. Some international health experts credit this to Taiwan's quick preparation and early intervention.
Taiwan took early action
"Due to the hard lessons that Taiwan learned during the SARS epidemic in 2003, it is more prepared for the coronavirus outbreak than many other countries," said Dr. Chunhuei Chi, a public health professor at the Oregon State University in the US.
Taiwan's government introduced a travel ban on visitors from China, Hong Kong and Macau soon after the number of coronavirus cases began to rise in mainland China.
Anticipating the high demand for masks in late January, the Taiwanese government started rationing the existing supply of masks. Taiwanese citizens can now go to designated drug stores across the island to line up and buy a specific amount of masks on a weekly basis. Chi pointed out that this policy has also been duplicated in other countries like South Korea and France.
"Taiwan leveraged the strength of its manufacturing sector and invested approximately $6.8 million (€ 6 million) to create 60 new mask production lines," said Chi.
"This increased Taiwan's daily mask pro production capacity from 1.8 million masks to 8 million masks. This has been called 'Taiwan’s Mask Miracle.'"
Technology for early detection
The Taiwanese government has also used data technology to help medical personnel identify and trace suspected patients and high-risk individuals.
In a paper published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Dr. Jason Wang, a public health policy expert at Stanford University in the US, highlighted Taiwan's use of technology to track the whereabouts of those under quarantine.
"The government will call you and try to figure out where you are," said Wang. "They can track people with their phone, which allows them to make sure all individuals who are supposed to go through the mandatory 14-day quarantine and are not violating the rules by sneaking out of their quarantine locations."
The Taiwanese government also provides support for those put under quarantine. Local village leaders will bring a bag of basic supplies like food or books to quarantined individuals. Since most quarantines are enforced, the Taiwanese government also rolled out a welfare program that provides a $30 daily allowance to those affected by the quarantine during the two-week period.
"This gives Taiwanese people more incentive to report their symptoms honestly," Wang said.
"That's the way democracies are handling quarantine during the coronavirus outbreak, and it's very different from authoritarian governments. I think this is a case where democracies should leverage their data and technologies appropriately, so they can triage people to the right place and follow up with appropriate care."
Taiwan fights off Chinese disinformation
While the Taiwanese government was busy containing the coronavirus outbreak, the island also witnessed a surge of coronavirus disinformation on popular social media platforms.
Mixed with simplified Mandarin characters typically used in mainland China, and phrases that are mostly unfamiliar to social media users in Taiwan, researchers quickly concluded that these disinformation campaigns originated from mainland China.
Taiwan FactCheck Center, a nonprofit organization that focuses on debunking disinformation in Taiwan, quickly informed the general public of these disinformation campaigns, which were mostly aimed at the Taiwanese government.
"This wave of disinformation campaign is a new vector for an old form of attack, using a health crisis as a new way of attacking Taiwan," said Nick Monaco, director of the digital intelligence lab at the Institute for the Future.
Monaco said that transparent communication between the government and civil society in Taiwan helps fend off disinformation campaigns.
"All these things combined make the danger of mass rumors being spread in a situation like this pretty improbable," Monaco told DW. "Before rumors like this become widespread, they are already debunked by the Taiwan Fact Check Center and the Taiwanese government."'
