Taiwan pursued a zero-covid policy for much of the coronavirus pandemic but after Shanghai's latest lockdown, authorities look ready to begin living with the virus.
are swiftly censored in China, but they have received widespread attention in Taiwan as it decides how to deal with its own soaring infections. The mounting economic cost and human toll of China’s unflinching “zero covid” policy has given ammunition to those who believe a shift to living with the virus is inevitable.
Opinion polling suggests the Taiwanese public is evenly split on abandoning a zero-covid approach featuring lockdowns and quarantines. Aof 1,071 people released Tuesday by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation found that, when asked about implementing a “coexistence” policy, 46.3 percent were against the idea while 45 percent were for it.
The debate is far from over, however, and many in Taiwan have expressed concern about the current surge in cases. Not only are the authorities racing to increase vaccination rates among the elderly and avoid overwhelming the health-care system, but they also face the delicate task of helping the public adjust to a new normal of seeking medical care only when necessary.
Taiwan is taking a gradual approach to opening. Quarantine times for close contacts have been reduced from seven days to three and a system of QR codes for contact tracing is being replaced with an app that that omicron, while highly transmissible, tends to cause less-severe illness than earlier variants. Premier Su Tseng-chang told local media last week that because 99.5 percent of cases in the current outbreak had no or mild symptoms, there was less urgency than previously. “We will not lock down cities like Shanghai did, but we also won’t remove our masks or stop taking virus prevention measures,” he said.