A Kiwi in Taiwan: My new home's Covid-19 success is a model for the world
OPINION: Im a Kiwi living with my Taiwanese-Kiwi husband in Taipei, the capital of Taiwan. The coronavirus response here has been incredibly impressive. This is an island nation of 23.8 million people just a few hundred kilometres from China, and a million Taiwanese were working across the strait, mostly in densely populated cities like Shanghai and Beijing with hundreds of flights back and forth. However, there is a pretty heavy distrust of China's regime here, as well as experience with SARS. As soon as there was any mention of a virus back in December, they started doing health checks on flights from Wuhan and soon blocked flights altogether despite WHO advice to the contrary. The vice president of Taiwan is a John Hopkins trained epidemiologist who cooperated intensely with all the relevant ministries on their responses. The borders were closed entirely in mid March except to citizens and residents. READ MORE: * A Kiwi in Oman: A 40-day mourning period followed by strict lockdown * Coronavirus NZ podcast: Life in New York at the height of the pandemic * Coronavirus: The truth about life for Kiwis returning to New Zealand We never experienced any lockdown here. We never stopped going to work, and the economy has remained largely open the entire time, so GDP is still expected to grow this year albeit at a much slower pace than expected due to the global slowdown. Temperature checks and hand sanitiser have been in use since February at virtually every school, restaurant, workplace, and public space. The most noticeable affects of Covid-19 were mostly from March until June, when mask wearing and some social distancing were enforced. Nightclubs and large events (more than 50 people) were shut down. I work as a drag queen called Taipei Popcorn, so all my performance gigs disappeared during that time but Im now back to full bookings. Temperature checks, sanitiser and an ID register are required for everyone entering the club. I'm a teacher here too and our classes continued throughout, but everyone was required to wear a mask, check their temperature and hand sanitise. The drama in New Zealand with border quarantines has been largely nonexistent here. People are quarantined or isolated at a government approved location (can be a hotel, Airbnb or even a private home as long as you are alone there).The cost is partially subsidised by the government, but the remainder is covered by the individual, as there was ample notice here before the borders closed (unlike New Zealand's lockdown, which had to be implemented quickly). If you left Taiwan after the border closures you are required to pay full quarantine costs upon return. People are subjected to random checks, and called twice a day. On top of that, phones are GPS tracked so if they leaves quarantine or the battery shuts down the person will be called. If no-one picks up they will be visited within 10-30 minutes by a compliance agent. Just to reiterate, Taiwan is not an authoritarian state. It is an open democracy with full elections, open internet, freedom of speech and civil rights like same sex marriage and mass protest. These somewhat draconian coronavirus measures are seen as a necessity, and have the full support of the population. Compliance is extremely high. The medical mask supply was ramped up through government support of local factories. The savvy young digital minister, Audrey Tang (who comes from a hacker background), rolled out a digital quota system in just a few days through our medical health cards. Taiwan has high quality universal medical care for every citizen and resident through a system of microchipped cards tied to your ID (a doctors visit costs $5NZD with medicine included). Each person was able to cheaply purchase three masks a week (now up to ten every fortnight), accessible by scanning your health card at a pharmacy. Taiwan also donated tens of millions of these locally produced medical masks to countries hit by the coronavirus. Taiwan is not a member of the World Health Organisation (WHO). It had observer status previously, but was removed in 2016 due to pressure from an angered China after Taiwan elected a president who is pro-independence. We're at 455 total cases now and life here is pretty normal, apart from the closed borders. Every few days a case is found at the border but it is always caught in quarantine so there is no danger. All this coronavirus success was achieved outside of the WHO system, and Taiwan had to share its information and successful health strategies through other channels. I hope one day this wonderful place I call home can be a full member of the WHO and share its top notch medical knowledge and medical systems with the world, as well as access the information it needs. Taiwan and the world deserve no less. Stuff Nation