SARS and COVID-19 experiences in Taiwan - Political matters --- When the first SARS case happened in Taiwan in 2003, Taiwan's government and residents were isolated from the world.

When Taiwan tried to warn the world about COVID-19, we were still isolated by our strong neighbor country and WHO. WHO would not accept the warning from Taiwan until March 2020 to announce the pandemic. At the same time, I saw much disinformation and hate speech from Taiwan and China internet users to attack the chairman of WHO.

We had the SARS experience to mitigate the COVID-19 disasters in Taiwan in 2020 and made the mask diplomacy in 2020. Our government and people are still strong together. Even we have a serious epidemic from March to July 2021, but we still can operate normally.

• SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) in Taiwan CDC https://www.cdc.gov.tw/En/Category/ListContent/bg0g_VU_Ysrgkes_KRUDgQ?uaid=u1D6dRGtmP4Q5YA1GmSKIw

• Taiwan's Vice President Talks to TIME About the Global Health Risks Arising From the Island's Isolation (MAY 18, 2017) https://time.com/4783772/taiwan-health-who-wha-china/

Source author: YingChu Chen jungheng@gmail.com