The Province
Date: March 27, 2020
By: David Staples, Edmonton Journal

Opinion 

Teacher Kelly Holtz still teaches English lessons every school day to his students. This is because Holtz doesn’t live in Canada but in Taiwan, one of the few democratic states in the world that hasn’t been devastated by COVID-19.

“The pandemic hasn’t interrupted my daily life here,” said Holtz, who grew up in Camrose, in an e-mail interview. “I still go out every day to buy tea, take my son to kindergarten and pick up my daughter from elementary school, where there’s a massive gathering of parents/grandparents at the school gates. When I walk past the local fast-food restaurants there are still lineups 20 people long at peak hours … The street market downstairs is still packed with people in the mornings. No wet markets here, by the way.”

Kelly Holtz, a Canadian teacher who grew up in Camrose and teaches in Taiwan and is the Beer League Heroes blogger writing about the Edmonton Oilers, poses with his wife Josephine Huang, daughter Sue and son Logan. Supplied photo Supplied

Schools and businesses are still open in Taiwan. This comes despite the fact that Taiwan was expected to be the country second hardest hit by the virus, mainly because so many Taiwanese citizens live, work and holiday in mainland China, 130 km across the South China Sea from the island nation of 23 million.

In Canada, we have 4,043 COVID-19 cases and 39 deaths, with large number of cases coming from “community” transmission, where it’s not known who infected the sick individual. In Taiwan, there’s been just 252 cases and two deaths, but no community spread of the disease. Each case has been tracked back to an incoming traveller.    [FULL  STORY]