Got it, I think you’re right, it all seems to come down to this distinction. Thanks all! Lots of decision making to do.
It’s not up to the CDC. The law is enacted by the Legislative Yuan. The local governments enforce them with guidance from the Central Epidemic Control Center. Fines can only be made for actual violation of a law - in this case fining the airbnb host for violating this law (and on this point it’s clearly defined): https://law.moj.gov.tw/LawClass/LawAll.aspx?pcode=K0110001
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Isn’t the CECC part of the CDC?
Nevermind, it’s just associated.
The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC; Chinese: 國家衛生指揮中心中央流行疫情指揮中心) is an agency of the National Health Command Center (NHCC). It has been activated by the government of Taiwan for several disease outbreaks, such as the 2009 swine flu pandemic and the COVID-19 pandemic. The head of the agency is Chen Shih-chung, the minister of Health and Welfare. The CECC is associated with the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC).
Taipei City made an anti-Airbnb quarantine bylaw. Taipei County, or other municipalities in Taiwan, have not.
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Actually, it makes sense to stay in a place for a month. You have two weeks strict quarantine plus one week self monitoring. That’s 3 weeks already.
Let’s not start to spread disinformation.
There are no restrictions on movement during the 1 week of self-monitoring. Locals seem to think it so, but not the case.
True, you can do anything.
As mentioned earlier in the thread, I went to a funeral, and the COVID helpline said that was okay, no issues.
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Examples of misinformation here:
- You are specifically not required to quarantine at your place of registration. In fact, most Taiwanese landlords are tax evaders and don’t let you establish 戶籍 at your rental property without a significant surcharge.
- You are expressly permitted to quarantine at a “friend or relative’s home”. However, once this “friend or relative” charges you for your stay, and your stay is for less than a month, you enter into the realm of illegality under the Article 2-8 of the Act for the Development of Tourism which defines a hotel business as: “以各種方式名義提供不特定人以日或週之住宿、休息並收取費用及其他相關服務之營利事業” (Emphasis added: If it’s free, it’s not illegal. If you don’t use “days” or “months” as the lease term, it’s not illegal.)
- Article 55-1 of the Act criminalizes Airbnb by making it illegal to advertise an Article 2-8 defined hotel rental: “以廣告物、出版品、廣播、電視、電子訊號、電腦網路或其他媒體等，散布、播送或刊登營業之訊息”. It does not make it illegal to respond to such advertisements or enter into a contract that falls under the definition of Article 2-8. The fine is to the landlord for making the advertisement, not to the tenant for responding to it. The fact that you have a contract outside of Airbnb with the landlord does not make it legal if your term is less than a month; the fact that you entered into a contract on the Airbnb platform for a month or more does not make the transaction illegal.
- You cannot quarantine at a “hotel.” For what a hotel is, refer again to Article 2-8 (and Article 2-7). If you’ve rented a place for a month or more, you are no longer at a hotel. You are at a legal rental, but the landlord can still be fined under Article 55-1 for making an illegal advertisement on airbnb, 591, or wherever.
- Local governments do not have the authority to legislate fines without authorization from the Executive Yuan. The Executive Yuan cannot impose fines unless a violation of a law enacted by the Legislative Yuan has occurred. Any action by Taipei City does not expand beyond the Act for the Development of Tourism. It is merely enforcing it, as it could do for anyone staying at a daily or weekly rental, not just people under quarantine.
No restriction but you should avoid crowded places as recommended. So paving the streets looking for another place to live would not be convenient. Wouldn’t it be more convenient to stay in one place, take it easy until out of the woods?
One also assumes a small gathering at a funeral is fine. Funerals are also considered emergency special occasions, anyways.
It is a big party of 300 or more, orgies, night market, etc which are frowned upon. That you can physically go, well, they can’t stop you, but seriously, if you had it, would you risk it? You already went through two weeks, you can move around, just not Costco weekend on toilet paper sale situation.
All these discrepancies in the regulations leads to loopholes. They should just require quarantine in hotels by everyone, foreigner or citizen, and test at the end. Maybe gov can pay for nationals or permanent residents like the Australian government did.
That would be the best thing to do, but right now they don’t have enough certified quarantine hotels to do something like that. Plus, I don’t think they want to pay for thousands of people’s hotel stays.
So let’s see if I have this straight…
If I find somewhere online or through friends that has a private bathroom and ways to handle food/trash, then I can either claim that I’m not paying (and therefore it’s not a hotel subject to quarantine hotel regulations), or that I’m renting it for a whole month (and therefore it’s my legal residence and not a hotel). Seems like there are a lot of loopholes here.
I will take all the necessary precautions and don’t really want to sidestep the law, but most of those quarantine hotels are $2000+/day and don’t have a kitchen. I’d rather either pay less or have much more space for my two weeks alone.
What exactly are the rules around handling trash? I understand it’s supposed to be handled separately but I’m not totally clear on the specifics.
What happens if I land and don’t have anything booked for quarantine? Do they show me a list and I choose on the spot or what?
You could just keep the trash in the apartment for the two weeks. As long as you don’t have food waste and you wash the containers the food comes in, it wouldn’t smell.
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The lizhang or the health/police/CDC officer in charge of you will advise you what to do with the garbage with the resources available.
Back in the early days - March-June -
the Government(s) in Australia paid, but not any more. Now each Adult has to pay AUD3000 for their 14 days in Solitary.
Yes, theoretically you can, but few landlords nowadays are willing to risk being reported and fined or angering the neighbors, so good luck with that.
I am sure all of us would prefer paying less and having a kitchen, a washing machine, and more space to roam than staying at a quarantine hotel. I’d rather follow the rules to keep Taiwan safe though. Many Taiwanese stay at quarantine hotels even when their families and friends have empty apartments due to fear/resistance from family members or neighbors.
You don’t have to recycle during quarantine. You will have to call the Environmental Protection Bureau of your city (or your quarantine supervisor) to arrange a special pickup. You will probably only get one service during the entire quarantine (if you are lucky), so it would be prudent to wash the used food containers, stack them, and keep perishable waste in the fridge until the pickup day.
Yes, you can show up and choose a quarantine hotel on the spot, but you might not like the options. The good and affordable ones are sold out months in advance.
That makes sense, and I agree I want to keep Taiwan safe, if we get caught is there a fine for me as well or just for the landlord? Either way I still don’t want to pay $30,000+ for my two-week quarantine. I can’t imagine hotels are exactly full right now, I don’t understand why there aren’t more/better options.
How exactly do the dates work? If I show up on the evening of January 1st, do I get out of quarantine on the 14th, 15th, or 16th? Thanks all for the help.
IIRC the fine for violating quarantine regulations is up to $1,000,000. For you, not your landlord. So paying $30,000 for two weeks at a quarantine hotel isn’t all that bad.
Thank you for your reply about the quarantine time. Don’t know how I didn’t find that when I searched. Sorry, I do not know what you mean when you ask if I want to quarantine at a capsule hotel.