Taiwan‘s 200-day “zero local” epidemic prevention record was broken when a New Zealand pilot of EVA Air successively infected two colleagues and a friend. The pilot not only violated the epidemic prevention regulations, but also failed to give an honest account of his whereabouts during the epidemic investigation, and even blamed Taiwan for “planting the evidence”. In the face of such an arrogant diagnostician, the command center strangely did not punish him on the grounds that he was “not advised in advance”, but only said that the airline would be punished. It was only after the public criticism that the Taoyuan health Bureau fined him $300,000 for “not cooperating with the epidemic investigation”.
In fact, the “myth” of whether Taiwan has really maintained “zero local” diagnosis for 25 to 35 days has been questioned by the outside world. There are two reasons for this: First, many tourists or migrant workers were diagnosed in other countries after leaving Taiwan; second, many migrant workers or foreign performers were only diagnosed after 14 days of home quarantine through self-funded screening. Both of these points show that the 14-day quarantine is not a panacea, and that there is indeed a light spread of the disease in some corners of Taiwan.
In this case, the New Zealand pilot from 765 contracted the disease to two other Evergreen colleagues, and the command center immediately blamed it on an “out-of-state infection” when it could. The New Zealand pilot was infected during a flight to the U.S. from late last month to early this month, and then he spent five consecutive days with his female friend in Case 771, causing her to become infected. In the end, it was only through the police unit’s car tracks and cell phone location that his whereabouts were discovered; however, he had caused a breach in the epidemic for 10 days. The confirmed diagnosis of the case 771 forced the command center to admit that the zero homeland had been “broken”.
From a certain perspective, the fact that the foreign pilot became a breach in our country’s epidemic prevention reflects the double standard of the government’s epidemic prevention work. First, the differential treatment of different nationalities or regions in The prevention of epidemics: If the pilot who contracted the epidemic was not a New Zealand national, but a local, Chinese or Indonesian national, would Chen Shizhong have been so courteous and felt uncomfortable to impose punishment? Last month, a Filipino migrant worker was fined $100,000 by the Kaohsiung Health Bureau for running out of his room for eight seconds during isolation at an anti-epidemic hotel. At that time, The Japanese and American media felt that the fine was too harsh; however, the Chinese seemed to be accustomed to the harshness of the Soviet cabinet and did not complain about the migrant worker. In contrast, Chen showed leniency to the New York pilot who was paid a high salary to confirm the diagnosis, which was disproportionate in terms of reason and law.
Secondly, the differential treatment of different industries: the general public needs 14 days to enter the country for home quarantine, while the flight crew only needs three days, because the government considers the aviation industry’s dispatch difficulties and gives special convenience. Deputy Commander Chen Zongyan said that this is not a privilege, but must be accompanied by overall epidemic prevention measures, with protective clothing and masks worn throughout the workday, and a person responsible for health management at the outer stations. The question is, have the airlines implemented the necessary self-imposed requirements while enjoying special convenience? The New Zealand pilot was coughing on the plane, but his fellow crew members were too scared to remind him to wear a mask because of the authority of his position. How can other people be convinced if industry personnel who enjoy special treatment do not check themselves?
Thirdly, the command center’s emphasis on foreigners over Chinese: when a new variant of the virus emerged in the UK, many European and American countries immediately announced a ban on British flights, but Taiwan remained calm and unmoved. It was only when there were doubts from the outside world that the command center belatedly announced the halving of flights from the UK and the need to focus on quarantine for those entering the country. Compared to the previous government’s refusal to allow the “Xiaoming people” to return to their hometown and the difficulties they made for the Taiwanese in Wuhan, the discriminatory mentality of “valuing foreigners over Chinese” speaks for itself. At present, the infected population in the UK is over two million, but only 90,000 people have been diagnosed in China.
For Taiwan, the demise of the “zero local” myth may not be a bad thing. At least it will force Chen to face the reality seriously and stop whitewashing.
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