Posted on 11/07/2020 6:52:58 PM PST by SeekAndFind
In 2020, most countries in the world locked down their societies with the goal of controlling the Covid-19 pandemic. There were some outliers. Sweden, Belarus, Tanzania, and some US states deployed little in the way of “nonpharmaceutical interventions.”
Another fascinating outlier – often cited as a case in which a government handled the pandemic the correct way – was Taiwan. Indeed, Taiwan presents an anomaly in the mitigation and overall handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In terms of stringency, Taiwan ranks among the lowest in the world, with fewer controls than Sweden and far lower than the U.S.
The government did test at the border and introduce some minor controls but nowhere near that of most counties. In general, Taiwan rejected lockdown in favor of maintaining social and economic functioning.
Source: Oxford University (stringency index) and Lancet
How did Taiwan fare in terms of cases? Taiwan has seen 573 cases, which is remarkably low for a country with a population of close to 24 million and a population density of 1,739 people per square mile.
Source: Worldometer
In terms of death, the numbers are even more striking. Throughout the entire pandemic, Taiwan experienced only 7 deaths. Of the deaths, the individuals were in their 40s to 80s, the majority with preexisting health conditions.
Source: Worldometer
To put this in perspective, in a stringent terrority with similar demographics, LA County’s population is 10 million and population density is 2,500 per square mile – meaning slightly denser but less populated – but by contrast, it has had 309,000 cases and 7,000 deaths.
A paper from the Lancet aims to answer this question by providing a few explanations. The authors’ main claim is that Taiwan’s rapid mobilization is ascribed to pre-Covid medical institutions, which include the Taiwan CDC, established in 1990, and the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC). In addition, Taiwan’s outbreak of SARS in 2003 allowed them to create plans for managing a similar disease later on.
For example, a 2005 study of SARS in Taiwan already discussed preparation measures in the case of a new outbreak, explaining that focus must be directed towards the older and immunocompromised populations and hospitals should be managed vigilantly.
Drawing on previous experience, Taiwan created a culture in which masks are worn widely and implemented advanced contact tracing technologies and early screening of international travelers. However, masks were not worn by all citizens and were rather valued for its protection from air pollution. The Lancet authors attribute these strategies to Taiwan’s low cases and deaths.
But here is a puzzle. Usually when public health intellectuals speak of a good handling of a pandemic, they express the need for widespread testing. That is followed by an exhortation to track and isolate. Again, Taiwan did some of this at the border. Taiwan did have a wide availability of tests – unlike the US – and did have an open testing approach so that anyone could get tested, symptomatic or not.
Even then, Taiwan had one of the lowest scores on tests per thousand of any country in the world. Only one person in 100,000 undertook a Covid-19 test.
The government maintained open communication and transparency with its citizens. For example, the Taiwan CDC produced daily reports on the state of coronavirus in the country. Taiwan’s reports are not politicized attempts to generate hysteria (as in places like the US and other European countries), but are straightforward and concentrated on the actual numbers.
This same strategy was also at work in places that did not impose lockdowns, including South Dakota and Sweden. Although one could argue that top-down approaches to information are flawed, there is something to be said for a country that values transparency because it allows for the public to have greater trust in the information provided to them.
As former Taiwanese Vice President Chen has stated:
“I would like to point out a critical element of the Taiwan Model: transparency. From the very beginning of the pandemic, the Taiwanese government has spared no effort in ensuring that the general public has open access to COVID-19 information.”
Another explanation for Taiwan’s proactive approach is that it possesses first-hand information on coronavirus management from its SARS-CoV-1 experience in 2003, which has informed its response and mitigation plans. The fact that Taiwan has dealt with another coronavirus outbreak previously has allowed it to alleviate devastating effects in later years.
Taiwanese health authorities shared information with other countries. Former VP Chen explained why this was crucial, given the Taiwanese SARS experience in 2003:
“International cooperation is the only way to fight a global outbreak….We are more than happy to share our knowledge, experience, and expertise with the international community. Taiwan can help, and Taiwan is helping.”
Nevertheless, other countries and NGOs fail to recognize Taiwan’s unique knowledge and thus do not consider it in the competing market of information that could ultimately inform policy decisions. Perhaps one of the reasons for this issue is that the WHO refuses to acknowledge Taiwan’s independence from China, thus excluding the country from participating in discussions surrounding the pandemic. This stubbornness prevents the dissemination of useful information that could protect people from illness and economic affliction, thus only serving to create harm.
We are still left with a mystery. Taiwan did not lock down. It did not widely test. And yet it had the lowest death rate per million of any populous country in the world. It experienced 0.3 deaths per million and ranks 189th in the world.
What, then, is the explanation? As much as public health authorities in the West want to consider policy as a decisive factor in the success or failure of pandemic response, the Taiwanese case might have nothing at all to do with the public policy response.
The real explanation deals with innate immunities from other vaccines or virus exposures. For example, a study found SARS-CoV-1 reactive T cells in patients who were infected with SARS 17 years ago. Even though about 680 people in Taiwan were infected with SARS in 2003, the study shows a possibility that enduring T cells could influence the effect SARS-CoV-2 has on people with certain preexisting immunities. A different study found that there were strong differences in mortalities between Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and Western countries, suggesting that genetic factors may also play a role in these disparities.
Although the extent of Taiwan’s governmental overstep and tracking could be viewed as constituting an infringement on individual rights and privacy, its lighter hand to Covid-19 management has proven wise. The country has seen extremely low cases and – more importantly – low death rates.
Its economic performance is projected to fare better than other countries. Taiwan is expected to experience a 0% growth rate in 2020 GDP – neither losing nor gaining in wealth – while US GDP is expected to contract by 3.5% in 2020.
The Lancet article draws on a significant conclusion regarding Taiwan, “While some aspects of the Taiwan approach might not be acceptable in other jurisdictions, the potential social and economic benefits of avoiding lockdown might alleviate some objections.”
This statement gets at the heart of Taiwan’s strategy: although the government may have overstepped relative to what was necessary, it was able to minimize costs by not shutting down or preventing all people from carrying on a normal life.
There are undoubtedly other reasons accounting for Taiwan’s success, such as its low poverty levels. Still, Taiwan presents an important case study that warrants further investigation. In 2003, Taiwan faced one of the highest SARS infection rates in the world. Now, the Covid-19 infection rate in Taiwan is one of the lowest despite the country not locking down.
The Taiwanese case reveals something extraordinary about pandemic response. As much as public-health authorities imagine that the trajectory of a new virus can be influenced or even controlled by policies and responses, the current and past experiences of coronavirus illustrate a different point. The severity of a new virus might have far more to do with endogenous factors within a population rather than the political response.
According to the lockdown narrative, Taiwan did almost everything “wrong” but generated what might in fact be the best results in terms of public health of any country in the world.
Again, check out Worldometer if you doubt this.
This figure which I believe I got from Dr Gold of the FRONTLINE Dr's shows China is a country that is mixed HCQ use, not blocked like the RED countries. Some countries do better with HCQ use than others, why that is the case is easily answered from the following info:
The GREEN line countries have much lower death rates than countries that do not encourage HCQ use. But HCQ by itself relies on zinc to be of high enough concentration from you diet which may not always be sufficient. Zinc is the "bullet" that prevents the virus from replicating, HCQ is the "vehicle" that delivers the Zinc to the cell.
I had symptoms in July, on the 3rd day, I lost smell and taste which are from what I read the symptoms which confirm you have COVID-19. I found a knowledgeable FRONTLINE Dr and was prescribed the Zelenko Protocol. The person who infected me and myself were treated by one of the doctors in this table. If you spend just a few seconds looking, you'll see that ALL of the FRONTLINE Dr's who use the type treatment listed on this spreadsheet have nearly a 100% success rate!
French Dr Raoult is the only one listed who used protocol #1 which is ONLY HCQ and antibiotic (but he didn't add zinc) and he had the worst death rate. His results are much better that the usual medical results but not as good as any of the doctors who used Protocol #2 or #3.
This YOUTUBE is Dr Tyson who is in S California. The YOUTUBE numbers have been updated on this spreadsheet-<1900 COVID INFECTED TREATED, ONE HOSPITALIZED
DOZENS of Licensed Doctors tell the public that they treat COVID postive tested patients with HCQ+Zn+antibiotic and they have a near 100% success rate. Almost 100% recover, and virtually no one is even hospitalized! Why does any intelligent person trust Fauci and his co-conspirators when they say that HCQ is dangerous, HCQ is not proven to work etc etc...?
YOUTUBE Calif Dr Treats COVID patients and has nearly a 100% success rate
I didn't use Dr Tyson but I do follow him on twitter. Do you believe Fauci when he questions the effectiveness of HCQ+Zn or do you believe Dr Tyson who has treated 1900 patients? The issue really is this simple:
WHO IS WRONG?
1. Dr Tyson who has treated 1900 patients and only ONE needed to be hospitalized
2. Dr Fauci who has NEVER treated anyone with HCQ+Zn for COVID-19? Keep in mind that Fauci doesn't say HCQ is NOT effective, what Fauci says is that it has NOT been properly tested.
Since obviously choice #1 is the only one that makes sense, WHY is Fauci willing to kill people while we wait for testing to be completed?
It is obvious why Fauci prevented HCQ+Zn+antibiotic from being used to save over 200,000 American lives, isn't it? All you have to do is look at today's news.
HCQ +zn+antibiotic can be prescribed by an online Dr and a mail order prescription can be delivered to your door. If you don't have any in case you become infected, you might want to consider using DUCKDUCKGO and find a Dr who will do that. If you are overweight, over 60, heart condx, diabetes, prediabetes... you might want to make that a high priority. You have 5 days of symptoms to treat w/HCQ before you get the virus explosion.
Very insightful.
In my book I collectively label it Lifestyle Disease, but it’s just a bit more complicated than a label and short explanation. It is very, very interesting how Asian industrialized nations are hardly affected, in spite of inconsistent ‘mitigation measures’. I believe that there are a number of factors, race among them (including bioengineering).
You’ll be following Taiwan affairs even more closely if the imbecile that is measuring the drapes for the WH is installed
Have another drink.
Agreed, alas.
LOL, a very compelling argument.
Another area seems to be Africa. If anywhere was going to be hammered hard you think it would be there. I don’t think it has been, but I confess I could be wrong. Not too many obese Africans, except for the odd dictator or two
“Why do the East Asian nations (Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, etc.) where masking is taken seriously have much lower infection and death rates than Western countries?”
Because they are Buddhists?
Correlation is not causation.
Mask wearing has ZERO effect on cv19 infection rates.
On the other hand, being obese and having other co-morbidities makes up about 95% of (alleged) cv19 deaths. Only 6% of cv19 deaths are “covid only”.
On the other hand, face masks worn willingly constitute virtue signaling, being a Democrat, or being a moron (I repeat myself?)
There has been lots written about the ineffectiveness of face diapers.
I could believe that scenario also. Without a doubt, COVID, has been counted differently (inflating the numbers) in the US (and West) than any previous flu bug.
The people of Taiwan/ROC are very nice, smart and organized. I saw this first hand when I lived in Taipei in 1971 while I went to Chengchi University (a future President of that country was my classmate. Smart guy and nice as well all of my Chinese classmates and teachers).
This is why Peking/Communists fear a free ROC. It is an example of how freedom allows a people to grow and prosper.
This is what the Reds fear most. No wonder they buddy-up to the Bidens. Better to have greedy fools on your payroll than to let them wander around on their own. They might get a sane thought about things such as free speech, freedom, Tianamen Square was a bad thing, concentration camps aren’t nice, and playing around with deadly viruses could hurt us.
Per your question: Taiwan is currently testing everyone who flies in. Mandatory 2 week quarantine for everyone coming in.
My wife is there now. She has been there since February when she went over to visit her sick father. Her return tickets was cancelled by AA. There is no safe way to fly home currently.
People in Taiwan exhibit personal responsibility. They have a habit of wearing masks because of the pollution coming across in the winds from china. Since my wife is from there I have spent a lot of time in Taiwan. It is amazing to see a culture where people actually care for one another.
Not only mask wearing is practiced. If you enter a larger store you walk through a mist of disinfectant and are given hand sanitizer. They have crews that randomly take peoples temp on the streets. Robots do this in larger cities.Social distancing is not possible due to population density.
People have stated this is because it is a communist country. Far from the truth. Very little crime in Taiwan because the government does their job and the penalties are severe.
One more statement. If you were found to have Covid they were fitted with an ankle bracelet and quarantined. Tough law but it worked. $40,000 US fine if you broke quarantine.
No taking a daughter to a High School dance when infected like here.
My brother is currently there.
They have handled it sanely.
You enter the country, you are locked down for 2 weeks before you are allowed to go to do anything. Temperature checks and recorded daily..
They aren’t locking down everyone, but they are serious about it.
I assume any positive case of a citizen will be put into forces quarantine as well.
When you succumb from complications of a new viral or bacterial infection one day in the near future due to your irrational mask wearing & hypochondriac hygiene, don’t come crying to me. Because I’ll be dancing on your grave metaphorically singing ITYS DUMBASS.
I’ve written about that very point elsewhere. But publicly scientists seem disinterested in the facts behind the dichotomy of western industrialized nations vs. 3rd-world.
It could very well be a facet of its ‘lab engineered’ origins - both for the dichotomy and for the seeming resistance to learn “Why?” - but my curiosity on this topic seems rather rare. Absent working in a laboratory, details to investigate those questions are quite sparse.
‘Why do the East Asian nations (Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, etc.) where masking is taken seriously have much lower infection and death rates than Western countries?’
and why do African cesspools like Sierra Leone have a fraction of the East Asian nations...? you know, those countries where shit runs in the rivers, creeks, and streets, hygiene consists of saliva on festering sores, animals cohabit with humans in corrugated tin sheds, and the value of life is measured in days, not years...?
claiming that forced masking is the answer to viral woes is facile at best...
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