Taiwan: a safe heaven for nomads during the coronavirus pandemic

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On our 14th day of home quarantine in Taipei (pictures) we received our daily phone call from the quarantine field agent that was closely monitoring us. Her call was a little bit longer than usual as she would usually check on our health and hang up after that. This time after doing her usual review, she told us that we were free to leave our Airbnb starting at midnight without any repercussions. In other words, we were free from our home quarantining (and also clear of COVID-19).

When we took our first steps outside of our building, we were really happy with the simple act of being able to walk in the same directions for more than a few seconds without hitting a wall. Stretching our legs felt great and feeling the warmth of the sun was a real treat! 

What surprised us the most was what we actually did not notice. Rather than empty streets, we saw people walking next to each other carrying their cup of coffee and having regular conversations. Rather than empty public spaces, we saw people exercising in parks. Rather than limited public transportation, we saw busy buses and subways. Rather than people lining up to get groceries, we saw a bunch of people inside grocery stores doing their business as usual. And rather than looking for “Sorry we are closed” signs in front of businesses, we saw plenty of food stalls and restaurants accepting customers.

If it wasn’t for the surgical masks that everyone was wearing, we would have guessed that life here was exactly as we remembered it when we were in Bali a month ago, before COVID-19 became the pandemic the world has to deal with today.

It has been 2 weeks since we completed our quarantine so we wanted to share a little preview of how life in Taipei has been by looking at how Taiwan is doing extremely well to stay on top of this pandemic and what lessons the rest of the world can learn from it. Are you ready to take a peek at what life in one of the safest countries to be living during COVID-19 looks like?

If you go on the streets of Taipei and take a picture, you will see life as we used to know it before COVID-19. But the devil is actually in the details and we would like to highlight what the country is doing under the scene to keep everyone safe and healthy.

Here is an example with our trip to the farmers market on 4/12/2020:

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A post shared by Mr. & Mrs. Nomad Numbers (@nomadnumbers) on Apr 13, 2020 at 3:55am PDT

Let’s also not forget that Taiwan was the 2nd highest risk country to get the coronavirus, yet the country manage to have the lowest rate of cases (& death) on the entire planet.

How Taiwan is staying on top of COVID-19

Here are the things we’ve noticed that are keeping Taiwan on top of this highly contagious virus and allowing its residents to keep living a pretty normal life.

1 – Wearing surgical masks

While people don’t wear surgical masks when they are inside their home, as long as you step outside everyone is wearing one. We noticed a few exceptions though:

• When you are eating out at a restaurant
• When you are exercising in a park 
• When smoking outside

There are places where wearing a surgical mask is fully enforced though like in the subway. We do see agents posted at the entrance of each subway station with a sign of the rule and the fine (5000 NT$ / 165 USD) if you don’t follow it. We saw agents stopping people trying to get into the subway station without wearing a surgical mask. 

2 – Washing hands

You are usually required to sanitize your hands upon entry to a restaurant and most stores (although we noticed that not all of them are enforcing this policy). Business owners will usually provide you with hand sanitizers to do so.

3 – Cleaning surfaces

Whether it is floors, windows, dining tables or even the place where you put your groceries when checking out at the cash register, people are cleaning surfaces like crazy and very often using products with at least 75% of alcohol (something they actually like to advertise as you enter a business). 

4 – Checking temperature

It is very common to have someone stopping you at the entrance of a store to check on your temperature to be able to enter the store. Some places will also provide you a surgical mask if you don’t have one.

5 – Screening people at the border

People at the airport will get screened and ask to follow a two weeks quarantine. Their address and phone number will be taken so that they can be tracked and will be heavily fined if they don’t follow the rules.

6 – Implementing home isolation, home quarantine & self-health management

The government has implemented 3 methods of a 14 day quarantine as a response to COVID-19 that I summarized in the picture below:

The first, which the government calls “home isolation,” is used for individuals who have come in contact with confirmed cases of the virus. Those under home isolation will receive health checks from Taiwanese medical authorities twice daily and will be electronically monitored via their cell phones.

The second type, which the government calls “home quarantine,” will be applied to people who have recently traveled outside the country. According to the CECC, those under “home quarantine” will receive daily health-check calls from their ward chief, and will also be under electronic surveillance through their cell phones.

People who are clear from the two types of quarantine will move into “self-health management”. Under this method, individuals should take their temperatures twice a day, wear a surgical mask and minimize their time in public, and immediately report any possible symptoms to medical authorities. 

7 – Educating the population

The local Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) is running a pretty efficient campaign on TV and through ads on the street to educate the population about the basic rules to follow to live with COVID-19. If you are curious, here are a few videos that I was able to find in English that we’ve seen on TV:

• Practical support for people in home isolation/quarantine
• How to wash your hands
• Why hands washing beats hands sanitizer
• Tips for grocery shopping
• How to wear a surgical mask
• For more check the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) Youtube channel

8 – Following the rules

The Taiwanese are following the rules and while we’ve noticed a few news articles reporting individuals breaking the rules, they seem to be far from the majority. The Taiwan CDC issues regular updates and people will follow them as soon as they have been announced. 

9 – Enforcing the rules

Besides the population being really good at staying informed and following the news, the local authorities are making sure that rules are being followed. We noticed this first hand during our home quarantine as we were tracked (through our phone) and checked upon daily to make sure we were staying inside our apartment and were still feeling well. We also heard stories of people getting heavily fined (like this guy – who went to exercise in a park and out to eat with his girlfriend, this guy – who went clubbing or even this couple). The local authorities aren’t joking with COVID-19!

10 – Practicing social distancing

While we are very familiar with physical distancing for having practiced it in the days leading to our trip to Taiwan, social distancing isn’t currently enforced in Taiwan, except for those not wearing face masks. This is part of Phase 1 of a policy about social distancing that Taiwan announced on April 1st (see below). 

“In the first phase, the CECC will advise people to avoid going to events where they could come into close contact with others, such as exhibitions, sporting competitions, and concerts, as well as entertainment venues not essential to their livelihood. The CECC will further recommend that people keep a distance from others of at least 1.5 meters in indoor environments and 1 meter in outdoor ones. If all people gathering in a certain place wear face masks in the proper manner, these social distancing recommendations may be ignored. Nevertheless, people will be urged to wear face masks when in crowded and confined spaces. Proprietors of venues where there is a high likelihood of people coming into close contact with one another and where a distance of 1.5 meters between people cannot be effectively maintained should suspend operations”

CECC social distancing measures announced on 4/1/2020 – Extract (source)

Phase 2 will be similar to the social distancing that the USA and most European countries are currently following. As I am writing this, this phase hasn’t been triggered yet.

“In the second phase, which will commence if and when circumstances require, the CECC will institute mandatory rules. All nonessential events, particularly those of an entertainment nature, will be prohibited. For essential activities such as medical care, official duties, and work, social distancing of 1.5 meters indoors and 1 meter outdoors must be observed. Even if people correctly wear face masks, a distance of at least 1 meter must be maintained.

CECC social distancing measures announced on 4/1/2020 – Extract (source)

We noticed a few number ` of restaurants putting separations between tables to provide more isolation between parties but that’s pretty rare.

Since we are in Phase 1, it is still common to see people going on hikes with parties of 10-12 people. Actually, the CECC recommendation for gathering as of March 25th is currently set to 500 for outside events and 100 for indoor events. 

“The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) recommended that indoor events that are attended by more than 100 people and outdoor gatherings that are attended by more than 500 people be suspended, in order to prevent cluster infections. […] organizers of these types of gatherings can conduct risk assessments based on the following six indicators […]: 1. ability to gain information on participants beforehand; 2. air ventilation and replacement; 3. distance between participants; 4. whether participants are in a fixed position; 5. event duration; 6. hand hygiene and surgical masks”

CECC Recommendation for gathering as of 3/25/2020 – Extract (source)

11 – Closely tracking active cases

The Taiwan CDC provides daily updates about the new cases and they go in great length to identify how many people have been infected, where they came from and where the infection might have been coming from. Pretty impressive and you can see on this example: 

“With respect to Cases #222-225, the four patients studied abroad at the same education institution in the United Kingdom as Case #152. They were detected at the airport and reported to health agencies when entering Taiwan on March 22. Infection with COVID-19 was laboratory-confirmed in the cases on March 25. Related investigations suggest that it is a cluster infections on campus. Case #226 is a member of a travel group to Egypt. During the home isolation period, the patient had a dry throat on March 21, and health officials arranged medical care for the patient who was then tested for COVID-19. Infection with COVID-19 was laboratory-confirmed in the case on March 25. A total of ten individuals in the cluster involving the tour group have been diagnosed with COVID-19 (nine group members, one contact).”

Extract of one of the CESS daily press release about COVID-19 (source)

Bottom Line

We are grateful to be currently in Taipei and to be able to go on hikes, meet people at coffee shops or eat out at restaurants. We know that this can change from one week to the next so we are making the most of it now that we can. We are also hoping to plan some day trips to explore outside of the city.

Mrs. NN is checking the local Taiwan CDC website daily to check on the latest announcements and the latest active number of cases so we make sure we always follow the latest rules and know how the situation is evolving.

These measures make sense to us and we hope that other countries will be able to implement them as they have definitely proven their effectiveness.   

What do you think about these measures? Would you feel comfortable going outside if the country would provide such measures with COVID-19 out there?