5 supposedly in the 7 day post quarantine self monitoring period were found at the concert, https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4091789?fbclid=IwAR2W8lBQL413_879eq9kJmM9iVjUm6AfChwrCSd4CdeFsgKII-RhgF-mtDM . Another 20 or so were warned away from the Taipei 101 fireworks area after being electronically tracked.
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Need to start jailing them.
It’s clear the fine isn’t enough. I’m guessing they’re the son of some rich asshole who will pay it off for them because the fine is pocket change.
Give them a year behind bars. Teach them a lesson and send a statement to other idiots.
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At 8 pm 4000. When the concert started 9000. So now they are counting the crowds outside to make it 38 thousand and not lose over to Amei, with 50 thousand.
Three more imported cases reported today—two Indonesian fishers (both asymptomatic) and another Taiwanese returning from the US:
Guy
- Taipei City Super Duper mayor says they caught 30 in self monitoring period.
OTOH the Taisheng insist that, if they have taken their vaccine in China, they should have shorter quarantine or none at all…
The talk show host is making an interesting point: young people can sacrifice their fun in order to protect the country - not attending the mass events for year end. But Taisheng are not willing to comply and protect others.
This is one of the deep blue channels, yo.
Edit:
5 in Mayday’s concert…and one attendee in panic over a fever, or so he says
US, UK, Philippines and Indonesia.
No English version yet.
There is now.
Guy
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“It’s remarkable that Taiwan has held the line for so long,” Dr. Wang said. But even if the island vaccinates its population by the middle of 2021, “then you’ve still got six months to go,” he said. “It’s really difficult to keep this up for another six months.”
A sobering view.
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Love Minister Chen’s conservativism as quoted in the NY Times article linked by Icon:
“I believe there will be another wave,” he said. “Because everybody thinks, ‘I’ve gotten the vaccine, or I’m getting the vaccine next week, I’ve waited so long, I can be free now, right?’”
Once there is more evidence about whether the current vaccines offer enduring immunity, “only then can we really start to relax a bit,” he said.
In short: keep yourself steady for the long haul.
Guy
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The Dr Wang quoted here is C Jason Wang, the Stanford University professor. I don’t claim to know more than him, but I will come out and say I doubt Taiwan will vaccinate everyone by the middle of 2021. Our first vaccines are not scheduled to arrive until March.
Guy
My last post about the NY Times piece—if forumosans have time on this Sunday morning, read the comments, which are pretty great and almost all critical of and/or puzzled by the tone of the article.
Here’s one that represents a lot of responses:
Katherine
San Francisco, CA1h ago
The tone of this article is odd and I’m not clear what the takeaway is supposed to be. Given Taiwan’s astounding success in containing Covid19, the author is surprisingly foreboding and insinuates that Taiwan’s very low number of deaths is due to a combination of dumb luck and government overreach. The Taiwanese people and government should instead be applauded for their foresight, critical thinking skills, and collective sacrifice for the good of their country. I’m quite confident, furthermore, that Taiwan’s government would handle the distribution of Covid vaccines far more effectively than we are.
As I’ve said, I have no idea what will happen with the distribution of vaccines. But given what we’ve seen so far, I would rather be here in Taiwan than just about anywhere else in the world.
Guy
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Couple of points, the article uses the terms lockdown and new wave. Taiwan never had a lockdown, Taiwan never had any real wave of community infection.
But I too wonder how long we should/can stay the course. I just got back from Kaohsiung where they cancelled New Year celebrations. Mask wearing is at 90% on the street from what I could see. It’s at 100% in all tourist areas. Which means the CDC has done a really good job of convincing people there is a very real danger of the virus getting into the community. Personally I don’t see it. And it feels really weird to be almost permanently masked up against a threat which isn’t really that big. My colleagues in the Hsinchu head office have been wearing masks for ten months straight now. There is no way I could have done that, not unless I was really scared that there was a life threatening virus in the community I needed to protect myself from. On the day the Iranian dickhead tested positive my company closed its gyms, closed down all activities. I can not see any causal link for this action. It’s really an over abundance of caution.
Of course at the end of the day it’s about threat perception. It may be we’re virus free precisely because of the precautions taken. But it also may not be.
Bottom line is we need the vaccines ASAP same as the rest of the world.
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It’s kind of weird they always get symptoms after they boarded the plane.
"Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the CECC’s spokesman, said one of the cases is a British man in his 30s who arrived in Taiwan for work on Wednesday.
Upon arrival, he reported having mild nose congestion that started on Monday, so he was tested for COVID-19 while staying at a centralized quarantine facility and his result came back positive yesterday, Chuang said."
People do underestimate the toll air travel takes on the body. Air pressure, less oxygen, results in difficulty breathing. There are also effects on the circulatory system.
That said, all recent cases all took tests before coming and show symptoms upon landing or a couple days afterwards.
First kid with UK variant swore he had not taken meds to lower fever. And his test numbers as well as his temperature were all over the place.
Very true. Plenty of times I’ve gotten onto a plane perfectly healthy and stepped off with a terrible cold or fever. Flying from the UK can take about 18 hours if you need to transfer, and that’s a long time for symptoms to develop.
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A lot of “rumors” have been peddled by political antagonists. You can hear the effects mostly in the elderly folk who lap the LINE made in China bits. Basically, they claim you cannot believe the Tsai administration -it us worse than KMT!- and that according to them, old folk should not go out -well, my cousin/sister in LA/NY/Shanghai told me she can’t because the virus is rampant-…
IMHO we have the opposite case as the West: we need to convince people it is OK but without letting our guard go.
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Meanwhile, four more imported cases reported today:
Guy
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The vast majority of new, imported cases are Taiwanese, charging away from their lands of milk and honey. where they are making shitloads of money, for almost free medical care, and a relatively safe environment.
Yet I still get glared at and avoided on the MRT?
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It’s better to over protective than under protective when dealing with this virus. That is the lesson the world has learned. What’s the big deal about wearing a mask sometimes…In reality of most of us it’s a relatively small thing.
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