Welcome back to Formosa News on FTV Taiwan. “Herd immunity” has been in headlines this week, after a British government adviser suggested letting COVID-19 spread so that the population eventually becomes immune to the virus. A Taiwan public health expert blasted the so-called “herd immunity” strategy in a radio interview on Wednesday. Li Ping-ing, an epidemiologist at National Taiwan University Hospital, said that the strategy could prove disastrous. He said the pursuit of herd immunity would only accelerate infection and lead to the escalation of deaths.In a radio interview, NTU Hospital epidemiologist Lee Ping-ing weighed in critically on the U.K.’s coronavirus strategy. He said that it was reckless to want 60% of the population to contract the disease.Li Ping-ingPediatric Infectious Diseases Society of TaiwanThis strategy is the epitome of being out of your mind. This approach means accelerated infections and accelerated deaths. How are you trying to prevent deaths? The point of epidemic prevention is to prevent deaths and reduce the number of those who get sick. How can you want to speed that up? That strategy is just an announcement that you’ve already given up.The number of imported COVID-19 cases in Taiwan has increased over the past few days, putting pressure on efforts to prevent community infections. Some recent travelers report being treated as public enemies. Dr. Lee moved to defend them on air.Lee Ping-ingPediatric Infectious Diseases Society of TaiwanIn the beginning, epidemic data from Europe wasn’t very accurate, and that affected our epidemic prevention measures. Those who went abroad early on in Europe’s outbreak don’t deserve much blame. After they returned, all their contacts were tested and quarantined. So far, there haven’t been any cases of secondary transmission. So at the moment Taiwan is still in good shape.The doctor said that so long as contacts are traced, the risk of large-scale community spread can be controlled. So far, all recent imported cases have had only mild symptoms. With these cases, the real issue is that they may have spread it to others before their diagnosis.Huang Li-minNTU Hospital pediatricianRight now the biggest problem for Taiwan’s epidemic prevention work is imported cases. People with mild symptoms or people who go undiagnosed make up 80% of cases. Most of the infections are linked to people who weren’t diagnosed at the time. If these people aren’t aware of their condition, it’s very hard to manage transmission.Lee Ping-ingPediatric Infectious Diseases Society of TaiwanWe should continue with our border control strategy. Taiwan is currently the only country in the world that can still manage spread by blocking travelers.The two health experts said people should closely monitor their health and report themselves to authorities if they experience symptoms. They voiced support for the government’s travel restrictions, and they said all returning Taiwanese should self-quarantine for 14 days. The second wave of infection is here, they said, urging the public to keep up its guard.
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