Postcards from an infected world: In Taiwan, we are learning that the best way to fight coronavirus is with trust

New Statesman Amerca
Date: 11 March 2020
By: Erin Hale

When coronavirus erupted, many predicted Taiwan would be among the worst-hit nations. But thanks to the government’s fast reactions disaster seems to have been avoided – and public confidence restored.

The mood in Taipei has lifted considerably since coronavirus first broke out over the Lunar New Year holiday in late January. Pundits were predicting that Taiwan would be one of the hardest-hit places beyond China, based on its past experience with the Sars virus outbreak in 2002-03 – when 150,000 were quarantined – but we appear to have turned a corner. 

These days, more people wear masks than they did before the holiday – particularly on public transport – but at the weekends there is a clear sense of life going on as normal. It’s very common to see people gathering in the park to have a picnic, shopping, visiting a hot spring hotel (a popular winter activity) or even eating at one of Taipei’s many crowded night markets. Following a two-week delay to the start of the spring term, schools and universities reopened at the end of February.

One noticeable difference since the virus’s outbreak is that you are now required to have your temperature checked and your hands sprayed with alcohol at the entrances to many buildings. Another change is that the number of tourists,  particularly tour groups from China, is visibly reduced.

“The hotel industry is suffering,” says Kathy Cheng, a writer and consultant who recently surveyed the impact of coronavirus on businesses for her popular blog Tricky Taipei. Cheng found many hotels with fewer than ten rooms occupied, while walking tours and other excursions were struggling with large numbers of cancellations.    [FULL  STORY]