[ExI] Taiwan & COVID

[John Grigg]

Bill w., you bring up a good point about the differences between Americans
and Asians. But l do recall Hitler saying Americans were just a nation of
cowboys. And that was white versus white. Now beyond Covid, America has a
huge challenge with the Frankenstein Monster we helped create, a powerful
China, run by the CCP.

On Mon, Nov 23, 2020, 12:48 PM William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

> As we all know, Americans are known as individualists, and ASians as
> collectivists.  Nothing shows this more than this post.  Tell Americans to
> do something for the good of everyone, and some start telling us that you
> can't tell them what to do.
>
> Asians seem to be able to go along, conform for the good of the group.
> Each frame of mind has its assets and liabilities.  Here the Asian frame
> helps ensure that all are wearing masks and distancing and so on.  The
> American one ensures that more spread of the virus will occur.
>
> It seems that Americans just can't be happy with what they have.  Like
> Baptists, they keep splitting and splitting over often tiny differences.
> Freud called the 'narcissism of minor differences.'
>
> bill w
>
> On Mon, Nov 23, 2020 at 7:48 AM Dave Sill via extropy-chat <
> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
>> https://www.jwz.org/blog/2020/11/taiwan/
>>
>> 10,000 people attended Ultra Taiwan last week:
>> On November 14, Road to Ultra took place in Taiwan. No social distancing
>> was needed, or any precautions. It sounds extremely unlikely and unreal for
>> that to be the case in 2020, where most of the world is still battling
>> against the pandemic caused by the Covid-19 virus, but its true. How?
>> Taiwan has been Covid-free for over seven months now. With only seven
>> deaths and 550 cases in total between a population of 23 million people who
>> inhabit the island, the way that the government handled the virus is truly
>> admirable. Closing borders early, restricting public transport, evenly
>> distributing masks to everyone and having a strict pandemic protocol is
>> what made the island recover so quickly, and this meant that large-scale
>> events were deemed safe again.
>>
>> thatalicewu:
>>
>> A note from abroad: Realizing now that I've been 5 days out of US that
>> many folks back home don't realize how other countries might be living with
>> the 'Rona. Here is what it was like to come to Taiwan. I think we could
>> maybe learn a coupla things...
>> Upon our plane touching down in TPE, we were immediately placed in two
>> lines: one for folks with a working intl cell phone, one for the rest of us
>> (to buy a very affordable local SIM card.) The government is then able to
>> track us while we are in the country
>>
>> Once through immigration and baggage, we are required to take
>> govt-approved covid-safe cars to our quarantine hotels. (If you are a
>> local, you can self-isolate at home.) No leaving your room (or home) for 15
>> days. Not for walks- nothing.
>>
>> At the hotel: meals are left outside your door three times a day. There
>> is no contact with anyone. Every day, you get a call from the health
>> department asking if you have any symptoms. If so, they will immediately
>> rush you to the hospital for care.
>>
>> As a sidebar, I have discovered that I am weirdly okay having all my
>> daily living decisions made for me. Have not yet gone crazy confined within
>> four walls. Perhaps I would have made a good housepet.
>>
>> Never mind about domesticity, after 15 days, you are free to go. For 7
>> more days, you are required to check your temperature every morning (they
>> actually gift you a thermometer) and someone calls every day to make sure
>> you're okay.
>>
>> Because most local citizens have voluntarily signed up for contact
>> tracing (and all of us foreigners are required to opt-in) should a case
>> break out, anyone who was in significant contact would be notified, then
>> required to self-isolate for a number of days.
>>
>> At any point, if you break quarantine - which they can tell by the
>> movements of your phone - you could be fined 10-30k. They are quite serious
>> on this point. Then again, they haven't had a case in 200 days. And
>> everyone has been living their lives freely since February.
>>
>> A note on contact tracing: I'm no expert, and historically a proponent of
>> privacy, but if you have a credit card, or downloaded any number of apps,
>> it seems "they" already have your info. So in a gosh-darn pandemic: sign up
>> for contact tracing!
>>
>> Again, not an expert. But again: EVERYONE IN TAIWAN HAS BEEN LIVING THEIR
>> LIVES FREELY SINCE FEBRUARY! I mean yes, people voluntarily wear masks in
>> public places, but otherwise, restaurants, subways, etc are packed. So....
>>
>> I guess this could have been our lives too? Food for thought...
>>
>> ---
>>
>> -Dave
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