I don’t have an issue with this nomenclature, personally. In my opinion, the difference lies in the intention - “UK” and “South Africa” here simply serve as neutral descriptors conveniently indicating the places that these variants of what’s now a pandemic virus were first identified (they also have official names, B.1.1.7 and 501.V2), whereas “Chinese virus” is typically a biased attempt to attribute blame/responsibility rather than actually dealing with the problem. If a new variant was identified in Beijing, say, I also think it’d be fine to call it “the Beijing variant”.
I don’t think “COVID-20” would make much sense, given that now we’re talking about the disease rather than the virus and I haven’t read of any indication that the disease caused by the new strains is fundamentally different. (An analogy would be AIDS, which I believe is also caused by multiple variants of HIV - incidentally, we don’t call that “the Congo virus” or “the Africa virus”, because it’s kind of irrelevant at this point to the problem under discussion).
Three more imported cases reported today—a girl from Egypt under the age of 10, a Taiwanese businessman medically evacuated from Nigeria, and another Taiwanese student returning from the US:
More details from the CDC about lunar new year guidelines—and what recent arrivals practicing “self-health management” (that is, the seven days after the completion of the fourteen day quarantine) can and cannot do.
Here’s the key take-away:
Under [self-health management], people are required to wear surgical masks at all times, take their temperatures twice a day, and avoid visits to public places and large-scale events.
According to updated guidelines released by the CECC, people under “self-health management” are also prohibited from partaking in group dining, as such events require the removal of masks while consuming food and beverages.
Individuals with no symptoms can visit supermarkets or convenience stories as long as they wear masks throughout the visit, but they should avoid doing so when these places are crowded or when it is difficult to practice one-meter social distancing, the center said.
Violators could face a fine of up to NT$300,000 (US$10,715), the CECC warned, citing the Communicable Disease Control Act.
A note to ourselves; if you have friends returning to Taiwan, do not invite them out for a big celebratory dinner the day their 14 day quarantine ends. Meet them for a walk in the park, make them sit on their own park bench.
If we have a breach will be over CNY, everyone has known that for a while now. A few weeks after CNY and no community infection, we are all good and kickback and wait for those sweet sweet vaccines