We got an early mark for our break on Wednesday afternoon when the Taiwanese government again leapt into action in a matter of hours to make yet another wise and prudent decision for the health of all. A human flood was anticipated to enter Taiwan from stateside universities and colleges as they went on spring breaks, so the government immediately announced that anyone entering the country would need to isolate themselves at special quarantine hotels for 14 days. Any citizens allowed home would need to observe the 14 days as well as any family member. This would have affected about 200 of our students straight away so the decision to close early was made. We did yet another session of e-learning for that stint.
Prior to that we were at school in the throes of a modified spirit week as I'd mentioned previously. In a country so ahead of the game in terms of managing this virus I wanted to again laud everything being done for us by governments and law enforcement. "Entry tracking" is an example for the world. People are whisked from airports in special quarantine cabs and buses...no contact with the general public is allowed. Once in their stated destinations they are locked down for 14 days. Their mobile phones are tracked and officials or police check in with them 3 times a day. If their phone remain immobile for any short period of time, officers physically visit their home and check they haven't gone anywhere. To top it off, there are gargantuan fines for non-compliance. Most importantly, this has been happening for weeks, way before anyone saw the necessity for these seemingly draconian actions.
Taiwan has had a fully staffed "war room" operating full time since the SARS epidemic in 2004. They initiated it in response to flaws identified in their protocols at that time. Apparently 100 or more people have been employed there constantly ever since. They were able to pounce on the possibility of an outbreak even before the Chinese realized its immensity and scope. No-one will be able to stop this virus, but I think Taiwan actually will "flatten the curve" and be able to cope. Seems like Australia is finally understanding the enormity of this problem: hopefully the horse hasn't bolted.
We've been doing our regular 5 km river walk loop and continuing to spot a dazzling array of fauna and flora. What our those strange stalk like flowers that have appeared magically staked up in various garden beds and parks along the route? We saw various moops, water moops, egrets and turtles each day and even had an encounter with an inquisitive lizard sunning himself boldly on one of the concrete bollards along the pathway! We've had a number of other adventures in the past couple of days, but that's official fodder for next Monday's entry so I'll leave it till then!
These are awful times and I don't want to sound preachy: however, wash your hands vigorously and often, and stay away from people as much as is humanly possible. We do these things as part of our normal lives anyway, so we don't have to change too much!