This. Any time I feel slightly annoyed by having to wear one, I think of the amazing medical staff I’ve met in Taiwan’s hospitals, wearing these things all day long while speaking to patients in Taiwanese, and in Mandarin, and (when folks like me show up) in English. This thought alone makes me toughen up.
Guy
Is that any different to before the virus?
There’s a marked difference. Before, I was glared at for being a foreigner. Now I’m glared at as a disease-carrying foreigner.
It’s funny, considering that most disease is being brought in by Taiwanese looking for cheap health care.
What news is there about the Covid vaccine in Taiwan? Any estimates regarding when the first doses will be administered, and when the hoi polloi (i.e., you and me) will be able to get vaccinated?
The CDC has stated that the earliest anticipated arrival of vaccines in Taiwan will be in March. How long it’ll take to get through the priority list and onto the general public is a good question. But this will not happen overnight.
Guy
Ehem one more time: Taiwan developed vaccine, which is not RNA based, might become available mid 2021, early 2022. The Government has procured vaccines from abroad from at least 3 different sources but yeah, we may not see a thing until March 2021.
Yeah I know. But I hate wearing a mask. I can’t breath right. I got a big broken nose and allergies. Ten minutes in a mask and I’m suffering. I wonder if it’s easier if you have a small nose…
Wow Keoni, what a misleading clickbatey title. She did not try to attend a funeral, she applied for permission and was denied. He makes it sound like she snuck out of quarantine to attend. How does he still have a job?
IIUC, the Ct value of 36 is also in the range that Taiwan usually refers to as “weak positive”. And given that she apparently had no symptoms, perhaps since October, the phrasing “diagnosed with COVID-19” seems a bit inappropriate (emphasis mine):
Case No. 816 is a Taiwanese woman in her 40s who worked in France for a long period of time. She was diagnosed with COVID-19 at a community testing center in early October of last year but did not seek medical treatment.
Subsequent tests she took for the virus in France came back negative. When she arrived in Taiwan on Jan. 1, she did not report experiencing any symptoms of the disease.
On Jan. 2, she applied for permission to leave her quarantine early to attend a funeral. The health department then arranged for her to first undergo a coronavirus test at a hospital at her own expense.
She was diagnosed with COVID-19 on Jan. 4 with a Ct value of 36 and was not allowed to attend the funeral. The health department has identified seven contacts in her case, including five passengers who sat in the two rows directly in front of and behind her and two persons who live with her. All seven have been directed to start home isolation.
Cause Keoni’s job isn’t to provide journalism, it’s to make clicks and bring ad money.
This was also a complaint a woman had with the animated news channel NEXT Media.
It takes a special kind of person though to enjoy making fake news.
They responded by creating a cringey response video.
Originals went viral, can’t find them. Found it.
I don’t understand. It says she was denied permission due to her positive test, but then it says that the people seated near her were instructed to begin home isolation. This would seem to infer she went to the funeral anyway, unless they’re talking about the plane she flew to Taiwan on?
Ct value of 36 should be considered negative if this article is correct:
I believe it means the people who seated near her on her flight to Taiwan.
On the plane, dear. Only one sitting next to her after she took the test was the orderly on the way to the hospital.
During lunch we were talking about an acquaintance who had COVID abroad. Aside fr paying for his own medicine, this person was told to isolate 2 weeks…still feeling bad after a month or so. Here in Taiwan they won’t release you from the hospital until you give negative 3 times. We are truly lucky.
One possible exported case today—a worker returned to Vietnam, where she tested positive. Contact tracing and testing underway. More details here:
Guy
A weak positive!
We’re lucky because the virus has been kept from spreading inside our borders. We’re not lucky because every person who tests positive is put into hospital isolation.
In countries where the virus has basically become endemic, there’s no compelling medical reason for people who don’t have serious illness to be hospitalized.
We are lucky to be here, where they have a strict policy to make sure people are ok when they leave the hospital, and have a medical system that can handle the cases properly instead of sending them home to gamble it, no matter the numbers.
Lots of those kind of countries around nowadays. Feel free to head out and join them if you like!
One my side, I’m with Icon. I can find very little to complain about when a national health system takes on this burden to help manage public health without sending a bankruptcy-inducing invoice to the person(s) affected by COVID.
Guy
Almost all of which chose to enter this country, many knew they had been exposed to or had the virus.
Containment is working for one year already.
This hasn’t stopped. Speak to any random old person in Taipei and they will tell you Taiwan is in a terrible position.