An article in the New York Times last March 13, titled “Covid? What Covid? Taiwan Thrives as a Bubble of Normality”, is instructive of what life is like in a country that has so far been relatively successful in its battle against the Covid-19.
While most other countries in the world have been facing unprecedented health crises because of the pandemic, in our case even hitting new highs in Covid cases despite a year in lockdown, life in Taiwan has been “startlingly normal.”
Taiwan has kept the pandemic well under control, with only 35 people remaining in hospitals being treated for Covid as of last week and just 10 Covid deaths.
“Every day, restaurants, bars and cafes are packed. Office buildings hum, and schools resound with the shrieks and laughter of maskless children….” Amy Qin and Amy Chang Chien wrote in the NYT article. “This island of 24 million, which has seen just 10 Covid-19 deaths and fewer than 1,000 cases, has used its success to sell something in short supply: living without fear of the coronavirus. The relatively few people who are allowed to enter Taiwan have been coming in droves, and they’ve helped to fuel an economic boom.”
“The influx of people helped make Taiwan one of last year’s fastest-growing economies — indeed, one of the few to expand at all. There was a brief slowdown at the start of the pandemic, but the economy grew more than 5 percent in the fourth quarter compared with the same period in 2019. The government expects 4.6 percent growth in 2021, which would be the fastest pace in seven years,” the article said.
The Taiwanese government is not even concerned about the late start of its vaccination program, because with so few Covid cases and such a low transmission rate, the sense of urgency is less than in countries like ours where the pandemic is surging. And yet, Taiwan-made Covid vaccines could be ready by July, its health minister recently reported.
“Some aspects of pandemic life have permeated Taiwan’s borders. Temperature checks and hand sanitizing are common, and masks are required in many public places (though not schools),” the NYT article said. “But for the most part, the virus has been out of sight and out of mind, thanks to rigorous contact tracing and strict quarantines for incoming travelers.”
Domestic tourism is also booming in Taiwan, the article noted, as Taiwanese who had been used to taking short flights to Japan or Southeast Asia are now exploring their country, going to local tourist spots like Sun Moon Lake and the Alishan mountain resort.
Taiwan recently launched a travel bubble with Palau, and news reports say Singapore is next on its list.
Last December, Singapore announced a unilateral lifting of restrictions for tourists entering the country from Taiwan, exempting them from the two-week mandatory quarantine and only requiring them to take a Covid test upon arrival.
Other countries like Japan, South Korea and Vietnam are all discussing the possibilities of travel bubbles with Taiwan.
Taiwan’s successful Covid containment—the world’s best according to many reports—was achieved despite it being one of the most densely populated countries in the world (with many people living close to one another in apartments), despite its close proximity to China (and the frequency of travel between China and Taiwan), and despite it being shut out of the World Health Organization.
We have a lot to learn from our neighbor, indeed. Taiwan is so close to us geographically, Filipinos can see it on a clear day from Luzon’s northernmost island of Batanes, which is actually nearer to Taiwan than Manila.
But our two countries are leagues apart when it came to closing our borders early and tightly regulating travel, which went a long way toward containment when the Wuhan coronavirus was just spreading. And our protocols are so vastly inferior to Taiwan’s thorough and technology-enforced contact tracing and quarantine, as well as their people’s widespread observance of wearing masks.
Taiwan learned valuable lessons from SARS and previous outbreaks that enabled it to better prepare for this pandemic. It developed a healthcare system that is considered one of the best in the world.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III had also dealt with infectious outbreaks before. He was DOH chief during the administration of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo when the A (H1N1) virus reached the Philippines in 2009, part of a larger global flu epidemic that killed 9 people in the country. But it seems Duque learned no lessons from previous experience to help him successfully contain Covid during his second ‘tour of duty’ under the Duterte administration.
Indeed, past is prologue, even for pandemics. ###
Image credits: Jimbo Albano