Cultural Revolution has come to the ROC
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I think they can’t believe their luck in picking Taiwan to spend this difficult times.
It would seem so. But I think the other fellows tend to arrive in a group as well.
These guys are having a blast. A unique experience considering what is going on outside of Taiwan:
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Yeah that Belgian couple (accidental visitors to Taiwan—they got in just under the wire!) bring some nice positive energy during these difficult times. It’s a pleasure to watch their videos, even as they get some basic details wrong!
Guy
It’s a valid point. Taiwan has backed itself into a corner, long-term, with a seemingly successful short-term strategy.
I’m not sure even the term “medium-term” would be appropriate. How long can all this go on?
Being in Taiwan it might not be that interesting since this is more ‘normal’ for us, but playing back the footage of our day-to-day lives here for folks back home or in countries seriously effected by the virus would probably be pretty interesting.
I’ve been thinking of just recording videos of mundane things about how life in Taiwan pretty much goes on as it always has and just sending it to friends to show them it’s all good in Taiwan so far.
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I don’t think it’s mutually exclusive. Taiwan’s short-term success is great. Keeping the virus at bay was a very smart thing and Taiwan was in a very fortunate position to be able to do so,
The issue now is that decision-makers have to address the reality going forward: pretty much the rest of the world is going to start opening back up before there’s a vaccine and the virus has been eradicated.
It looks this way on the surface but I personally know of numerous service businesses that are hurting.
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I don’t understand this take. What, “Taiwan’s handling of the global pandemic was too good and now we’re screwed”? Does this also apply to New Zealand, Australia, and South Korea?
What should Taiwan do now in your opinion? What’s the solution?
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There’s an easy solution, just drop some of these at the international terminals in Taoyuan and we’re good to go:
If the government needs someone to carry them as a sign, I’m willing to sign up.
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Somewhere back there I think I said that what they were trying to do looked like trying to build a sophisticated kind of chicken coop in a hurricane, or something like that.
Well, it looks like they managed to build and maintain that chicken coop, despite the hurricane.
People can only do so much. Now–fingers crossed–hopefully most of the rest will work itself out.
And the better alternative is??
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South Korea currently allows individuals, including tourists, to enter the country if they are willing to pay for a 14-day quarantine at a government facility.
To me, this is a very sensible solution. Let those who are willing to open their wallets and take responsibility enter your country. Throw in a testing component and it’s about as safe as you can get.
If there are concerns about resource availability, you could implement a quota system.
And yes, Australia and New Zealand are facing a similar dynamic as Taiwan. Loosening domestic restrictions will help in the very short-term, but over the medium and long-term, countries don’t get back to stable economic footing simply because the people within their borders can go to Starbucks and eat out at restaurants.
Disposable income that supports those kinds of personal expenditures requires normally-functioning economies.
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Right, and I agree with all of that. I would support South Korea’s approach being implemented in Taiwan, my only fear would be too many people coming in and not having enough bandwidth to track all of them, or quarantine breakers.
My reply to antipioneer was in response to people lamenting the lack of herd immunity and claiming that Taiwan is f’ed since we’ll never be able to open back up without risking an outbreak. This doesn’t make sense to me, and I am wondering, in these peoples’ minds, what the ‘correct’ approach is for Taiwan now.
Yeah but nah but…there’s no logic in this discussion. There’s no plus side to having lots of people dying or catching the virus day after day. There’s no herd immunity out there to be seen so our situation is still preferable. Plus we can keep trading. New Zealand is in a less favorable situation because it needs tourist dollars. We don’t.
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That’s why South Korea requires foreign nationals who aren’t residents (i.e. tourists and short-term visitors) to quarantine in government facilities.
A quota system could work if there was concern over availability. But given the overall situation (travel is somewhat risky), high cost of airline tickets, and the need to pay for your own quarantine (and ideally testing), I doubt that you’d have a flood of people coming to Taiwan just for the hell of it.
From previous comments, I think the issue is that Health Minister Chen has (apparently) insinuated that Taiwan basically is going to stay sealed until the threat is near-eliminated. That could be years away.
A lot of countries are starting to turn the page I feel.
Germany
Ireland
Etc…
I think travel will just open up slowly between eradicated countries.
Eradicated is probably the wrong term in most scenarios. Taiwan maybe can use it. Not sure who else can. And even in our case that virus will just keep flying in.
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