Living in Taiwan during the first Coronavirus outbreak

 

It wasn't a long time ago when I wrote about coronavirus and how I felt being stuck here in Taiwan. The island nation was one of the few countries in the world that has dodged the virus completely. We did have cases nearly every day, but these came in from the outside and were put into quarantine. For over a year the system worked flawlessly, until last month when a foreign pilot spread the UK variant inside the airport hotel and the staff spread it to family members and friends, and some of them spread it to random strangers, especially in Taipei. And so Taiwan has its first large local outbreak since the start of the pandemic. We had some 5-10 cases per day already last week, but two days ago we got a much bigger daily number for the first time: 180 cases. A day later, which happens to be today, it's already 202. I'm already nervous when I think about what the numbers will be tomorrow or a week from today. I'm afraid they'll be in the thousands, and higher. 

Thoughts about being COVID-free in Taiwan, but feeling stuck

 

The Year of the Ox is here in Taiwan, and it feels like everybody is finally letting out a big sigh of release. We just had the first domestic COVID cluster in a hospital here after many months of no local infections. The government put several thousand people in quarantine and the strategy seemed to have paid off. Only 20 people were infected so far, and it seems we avoided a bigger outbreak. Of course a big test will be the current Lunar New Year holidays. We need to see if two weeks from now there's a new outbreak, but I hope not. It's been a very weird year for us here, being stuck on this island but basically COVID free for a year now.

Being in Taiwan in 2020

 

A few days ago I was thinking about how surreal this year was for me. It was a year unlike any other, a year where for the most part I wasn't able to plan anything but just sit and wait it out. Now you may rightfully say: You're not the only one. That's very accurate. I bet millions of people had a similar experience; it's definitely one of those years that we won't ever forget (similarly to 2001 for example). And yet, very few people could claim that they lived through the coronavirus pandemic in a country that was for the most part virus free. Sure, we have had new cases in Taiwan almost every day, but since April every such case was someone coming to Taiwan from the outside. These people were then quarantined, and medically treated, and thus there was no new local spread yet. 

Visiting the Taipei International Photography & Media Equipment Exhibition 2020

The Taipei International Photography & Media Equipment Exhibition 2020 is taking place these days in Taipei. I visited on the 2nd day in the morning, so that I could avoid crowds, but that wasn't a too successful effort. I reached there around 11 and it was already quite busy, since it was a Saturday morning. I stayed until after lunch and it got really crowded, and the vendors had more activities at their booths, such as models posing with gear and hosts interviewing photographers. While Taiwan just celebrated 200 days without a local coronavirus infection, I still did not want to take any chances, so I left early. Let me share my impressions of particular brands and how the show looked like in general.

Life in Taipei 3 months after the coronavirus outbreak

An ambulance worker in Taipei (May 5, 2020)

Taiwan recorded the first official coronavirus case on January 21, 2020. That's about three and a half months ago from today. At that time the outbreak was already very strong in the city of Wuhan and spreading to other parts of China as well as countries across the world. It was said that Taiwan will be the most affected country after China, but luckily the opposite proved to be true and today I want to talk about my journey during this pandemic, how I coped with it and how life was in Taiwan during this time.

The Apple store in Taipei 101 is empty

I don't go much out lately, I mainly stay at home in my suburban apartment, however a few days ago I had some errands to do, and so I went to Taipei 101 area. I had a little time to visit the Apple store, and to nobody's surprise, the store was almost empty. There was about 2 times more staff than visitors (picture was taken around noon).

Taiwan coronavirus lockdown might happen very soon

Over 2 months in into the global coronavirus crisis, Taiwan has always been a step ahead of the issue. Until this very moment as I am writing this, there has not been a nation wide or even a city level lockdown like it's common in most other countries. Life here is relatively normal: Schools and offices are open, so are restaurants and shops, as well as public transportation. Here in Taipei specifically I'd say 80% of the people wear masks in public, inside the Taipei Metro it's above 95%, on the streets it's less because there's also easier to keep a certain distance to others. How it's in other cities around the country I don't know, but friends tell me people in Tainan are much less conscious about wearing a mask and taking precaution. Northern Taiwanese are generally known as being more serious and uptight as compared to Southerners.

Living with anxiety during Coronavirus

Yesterday I went to Ximending, Taipei's trendy district popular with young people and foreign tourists (something like Harajuku in Tokyo). It was near empty. Sure, it was Monday noon, so you won't see many Taiwanese students there like during the weekend, but this place is usually packed with tourists, especially those from Japan, Korea and Western countries. I still saw a couple of foreigners who looked like tourists, however a few weeks ago Taiwan passed a general travel ban for all non-residents, and since then tourism is basically dead. High end luxury hotels around the island have cut their rates significantly. I know one such hotel that charges 300 USD or more per night is now offering 100 USD per night. It's probably still mostly empty.

Cherish what you have

During this time of being at home, and having so much time on our hands, perhaps a lot of us will reset their lives, reevaluate their dreams and desires. All this material stuff means so little right now when your basic health is threatened, your social life is on hold, and your movement is restrained. Cherish what you have. Don't keep yearning to switch camera systems, or to buy the latest model of your preferred brand just because it has better specs. Use what you have until it can't be fixed anymore. Cameras lose value every day, images gain value every day. Focus on the art, not on the tool.

Losing my mind in Taipei right now

As Taiwan keeps adding coronavirus cases every day now at a higher rate than any time before, I'm sitting at home in my suburban Taipei apartment and just can't stop thinking about all this. I try to distract myself with blogging, photography, watching Youtube videos, checking Twitter and Facebook, but this thing is everywhere. You can't escape it. And we all know it will get much much worse before it gets better.

Taiwan is facing the 2nd coronavirus wave

In my post merely 3 days ago I wrote about how Taiwan is slowly losing grip on coronavirus containment due to human selfishness, and unfortunately I was right. In less than a week the number of infected doubled and we now have 100 confirmed cases. 21 of the newest 23 that were added today were imported by Taiwanese who came back after traveling around Turkey. This was the biggest single day increase in the country since the first case was reported on January 21, almost 2 months ago. As a consequence, the government barred all foreign travelers from entering the country (with few exceptions), while Taiwanese nationals who return have to go into 14 days home quarantine (source).

Taiwan is slowly losing grip on coronavirus containment due to human selfishness

Barely a week passed since I wrote my last post about the coronavirus situation in Taipei, and I was confident that my next post will be a month later. Boy was I wrong. So here we are just 8 days later, and Taiwan's number of infected people jumped from 49 to 67. I actually knew this will happen. So what is the reason for the spike, you might ask?

Living in Taipei during the novel coronavirus scare - a month later

A month ago I wrote a post called Living in Taiwan during the novel coronavirus scare. That was at a time when the virus just made news all over the world, and the first cases started to appear outside China: Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan were among those countries that had reported single digit cases at that time, while the majority of cases were still reported out of Wuhan. It was a very scary time, a time of great anxiety for me personally, as well as for Taiwanese people in general. We were not sure what was happening, and what will happen. A month later things look so much different from this side of the world, so let me share my perspective.

Living in Taipei during the novel coronavirus scare

I was never big on new year celebrations, so when the year 2019 finally turned to 2020, I was actually sleeping. As usual, the main fire works in Taiwan at Taipei 101 were splendid. I watched them on Youtube the next day. Unlike in other countries, Taiwan was looking into the future with a lot of concern and anxiety. The presidential elections were merely 11 days away, and once again people were torn between supporting the current ruling party which is pro-Taiwan, or give the pro-China opposition a chance to retake the power. Typically a change of party would be the norm at this point, as Taiwanese usually grow tired of the existing government very fast, but because of what was happening in Hong Kong for so many months prior to the election, Taiwanese grew suspicious and vary of opening up to China again, so they chose to support the current president, and keep the distance to China. Little did they know that this will pay off immensely so soon.