Letting Unprotected People Counter the Pandemic
China Times Commentary, April 16, 2022
Apparently, the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen has changed its elimination strategy to co-existence with the coronavirus (COVID-19). This is perhaps the only way to pursue sooner or later. But the course changing came so abruptly without sufficient preparation of epidemic prevention materials as its basis, even without consultation with local governments or the society. Is this policy change justified by sound scientific reasoning or just a political calculation? Whether Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung will run for Taipei mayor, the Tsai administration should not for just one temporary election to victimize thousands of lives of citizens.
From the experiences of United States, the European Union, and Japan, the epidemic prevention policy of Taiwan eventually shall change from austerity to openness. But to achieve its goal, there are at least three aspects of work should be completed:
First, intensive care beds should be ready. There are over three thousand negative pressure isolation specialty beds nationwide, vacant beds are over two thousand. The bed occupancy rates in the north part of Taiwan exceeded fifty percent when the epidemic was severe. When Minister Chen, who heads the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), warned that the number of infected cases by the end of this month would exceed ten thousand, are the hospital beds all ready?
Second, COVID-19 medication must be sufficient. The United Kingdom, which implemented most thoroughly the coexisting with virus policy, has stored and maintained four million anti-epidemic medicines, a proportion ratio between prepared medicine and population about six percent. But we have only 23,000 COVID-19 medication with the proportion ratio between prepared medicines and population only 0.1 percent. The Tsai administration, which claims to be ahead of schedule, is apparently not yet ready.
The most important is that rapid screening reagents must be widespread. During the severest epidemic onslaught, the United States has five hundred million doses ready to its people for free rapid screening; Japan even has prepared 350 million doses, three times of its population and free for its people even including free PCR testing. In contrast, the Tsai administration did not distribute rapid screening reagents free of charge to its people, Taiwanese have to pay more than five times of the price procured by the government. This high cost has reduced the willingness of people to undertake screening.
When hospital beds, medicines and reagents are not yet ahead of schedule, why our government wants our people to be naked to go to battle ground (to fight against the epidemic virus)? Is that because of the approaching of 2022 election, the government desires to let its epidemic prevention policy to cater for the election? The increasing number of infected cases will not increase the number of ballots, on the contrary, it will be the vent hole of public grievance. If any high-ranking official who is responsible for epidemic prevention, is keener to campaign for election, then he should quit right away and not let his own political future affect national epidemic prevention policy and lives of our fellow citizens nationwide.
From: https://www.chinatimes.com/opinion/20220416002935-262101